


A Phantom Thief to Steal Everyone's Heart

by Akiri Kurusu (Sitka_Serket)



Series: Trials of Justice [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akira's straightness is dwindling already, Akiryu - relationship - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anneshi-relationship, Character Study, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Kurusu Akira, Goro Akechi finally gets some pancakes, Haru rebels against what her father thinks of as right, Haruto-relationship, Igor can do a lot more things outside the metaverse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, It 365 days long..., Let’s dwindle Ryuji straightness to three hundred percent gay, M/M, Persona!fusions, Slow Burn, There’s more to Ryuji, Yutaba-relationship, akira has to prove himself worthy of being the alleged phantom thief, along with some changes, and getting you a place to stay, confidants gain better social stats over time, each chapter is a day, everyone does not hate akira in the beginning, everyone has to have good social stats, friends are family, he can make it so you exist outside the metaverse, he's very good at forging documents, if no one believes in him, it affects akira, it’s going to be long..., joker if he came from the metaverse, just like in game, kinda takes inspiration from the idea of rumors becoming reality from persona 2, let everyone be gay together, let ryuji say fuck, makoto and haru also have fluff moments, not doing smut, pegoryu - relationship - Freeform, phantom Thieves are family, platonic friend circle relationships, ryuji and akiras relationship has tons of fluff, ryuji is a bit smarter, theres a gay option!, things will mostly follow persona five, this all takes place in the span of a year
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sitka_Serket/pseuds/Akiri%20Kurusu
Summary: The world wished for a Phantom Thief to come and take their problems away... The Metaverse answered by creating Joker, a hero created by the unconscious mind.To make the world aware of his existence he has to steal the hearts of people who have distorted desires. Along with his teammates he plans to take the world by storm.Month: AprilCurrent Arc: Lord of Lust (9/35)(On hiatus until further notice!)





	1. Prologue: How the Mysterious Phantom Thief Came to Be

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [standing at a crossroad](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14525718) by [Tatsumaki_sama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatsumaki_sama/pseuds/Tatsumaki_sama). 
  * Inspired by [Once More I Can See](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030705) by [Raindene](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raindene/pseuds/Raindene). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Igor bring Joker into the Velvet Room, he has something in mind for him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda felt inspired recently after finishing the game, I should've played those games a long time ago, but now I'm here with an idea. I'll be honest, chapters will come out randomly, I hope that I at least do a chapter or two a month, but with how life is, I have no idea how it's going to go, so bare with me if it doesn't get updated as fast as it should.

[ ](https://ibb.co/cbWEq8)

The Phantom Thief only appeared in times when distorted desires reaped the real world’s own palace, but no one noticed. For they could not see him, unless they agreed to accompany him as a confidant. The Phantom Thief changed the world in small coincidences, freeing people from the pain and suffering from other greedy desires. However, the Phantom Thief was just that: rumors, but even rumors can become reality. Thus Joker was born, from the belief that there should be a handsome hero in the shadows making life better for everyone. It was a miracle for him to exist inside the metaverse, being conjured by strong thoughts was a rarity.

Joker remembered opening his eyes to see a dark blue room. If you could touch the walls, they’d feel velvety smooth. A man with a long nose sat at the epicenter of the room, giving him an off-putting smile. “Welcome newcomer, you have arrived here in perfect timing.” Joker was confused, but then again, everything that he looked at was like seeing everything new all at once with bewildering eyes. “Do you know why you’re here?” He asked Joker, he shook his head. “That is to be expected of a newly conjured thought. It is alright, you may take your time and when you’re ready, say something that comes to your mind.” Joker did not know how to form his words, but yet, he understood the man, with his smooth, dark voice. It seemed like every word he spoke it was articulated perfectly. “What is this place?” Joker asked. “My Velvet Room. It is a place where destiny collides with the lives of others. It seems you were entwined in it as well."

"Entwined?" Joker asked with a confused look on his face. "But more than that," Igor paused. "I was able to summon you here."

"Why was I summoned here?" Joker asked. "I've never seen a place like this before..." 

"For your case, I sensed your presence in the Metaverse, I am able to bring people together, set the threads of lives together or break them apart... You, however are a special case." Igor inquired. "You seem to come from the wishes of people who seek a hero to change peoples lives. That is why you came to me in your outfit." Igor gestured to his long flowing black tailcoat, with a fancy undershirt and pants. He looked like the pure example of a Phantom Thief that gave off an aura of a gentleman. "I don't remember getting these kinds of clothes..." Joker examined his outfit, turning around, before realizing he'd look like a fool in front of someone. "Gomenasai," Joker apologized. "It seems like a lot of people who wished for a Phantom Thief came from Japan. That would explain your hairstyle as well." Igor mused. His hair was messily complicated, and pointed in the weirdest of directions.

"What is a Phantom Thief supposed to do?" Joker asked. "Phantom Thieves are known to be very elusive, they often are able to get away as easily as they come like a shadow in the night."

"That can't be me!" Joker exclaimed, "I don't think I could ever be like that."

"On the contrary, you have the potential to become exactly like that. But not without my help."

"How can you help, I thought you were just able to bring people together?"

"I can do more than that. That is not my only ability. I am able to give you the ability to unlock the true rebel inside your heart. It has been with you this entire time, it's been a part of your Persona; the mask of your true feelings."

"P-Persona?" The words felt familiar, like he's repeated them before. Then the whole room managed to brighten as Joker was engulfed in blue flames, a figure appeared above him, wearing an outfit similar to his only crimson red. "Thank you Igor for helping him remember his Persona." The figure thanked Igor. "He has a lot to remember, he has unleashed me before."

"You're welcome Arsene, welcome back, I look forward to seeing you again." Arsene disappeared, leaving Joker to himself. "The Metaverse does mess with peoples heads, don't be alarmed, it'll come back in due time." 

"What I am here to grant you is a deal, because I sense that you can live up to the expectation I would like to see from you."

"And that is?" Joker asked. "To prove to the world that you are worth routing for. In times like these, people wish for someone that can change the world for the better. With you being born from the Metaverse there is a chance you can make yourself become real and no longer just be a cognition roaming the Metaverse." Igor paused. "You want to become real, right?"

“I…” Joker took a minute, grasping for his  words. “That is exactly what I wished for, before coming here. I wished I could do more than just be a thought. I wanted to change the world in a bigger way.”

“You’ve come to the right person, I grant the ability to let others go inside people minds and change their distorted desires as well as entwine fate.” The man clasped his hands and slowly pulled them away, revealing a phone on his desk. He held the phone out to Joker, and he calmly walked towards it, grabbing it with his crimson gloves. “It has an app on it that lets you move from mind to mind all you have to know is the targets for their location, and what they see the world as. I’ve already put in a location for you to start off, but the rest is up to you.” He handed it to Joker, with the flashing Metaverse Icon going off front and center.

“Thank you,” Joker said. “This will be a good way to get your name out there. The first step you must take is to change the life of a abusive gym teacher. He has tortured and hurt students, no one has spoke out about him due to him leading the teams to nationals. They’d rather keep his abuse quiet, but you can change him to admit his deed, by being the Phantom Thief that many have thought about wanting. Do you want to take up this offer?”

“Of course I do!” Joker exclaimed. “I want to do this.” The man smiled, pushing forward a paper to Joker. “It’s a contract, saying you agree to the deal and will take responsibility for your actions.” Joker nodded with absolute certainty, signing his name: Joker, the Phantom Thief. “We will keep in touch,” he pushed forward a dark blue key. “This is for your entrance back here, if you don’t have the key, your connection with this place will be severed, hold onto it well.”

Joker bowed, paying respect. “My name is Igor, occasionally my assistants Caroline and Justine will be here to help you with battling against the inner demons in people minds. You are able to unlock your hidden potential by using Persona’s to battle against enemies by signing the contract you signed moments ago. The persona that appeared earlier was not able to battle yet, but because of the contract it made it easier for you to realize you need him in battle, I just awakened Arsene again for you. You can fuse Persona’s with others to result in stronger defense against the next attack. For now the enemies in Kamoshida’s Palace are weak and can’t do much, you’ll be just fine."

Another figure started appearing from one of the prison locked gates. "You'll have a guide to help you as well, his name is Morgana. He has the same ability as you do. He'll show you the ropes and the best strategies for facing against enemies." The cute looking cat took one look at him and said, "So you're the new rookie, huh? Just follow my lead and everything will be good." The cat grabbed his hand and began pulling him to where he came from. "Come on! We have some work to do!" And they headed out, leaving Igor all alone to himself.

"I look forward to seeing your results. Farewell Phantom Thief, change the hearts of many!” Igor said to himself as he began looking at his contract signature. Even if he was a gentleman his writing was like a childs...

It's looks like it’s going to be a long year...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was inspired by the idea of alternate universes, mostly with the idea that Joker did not come from our world, but the Metaverse. The cross my heart and hope to die series by Tatsumaki_sama was one of those inspirations, so, thank you! If there's anything I could improve on, let me know and I'll see what I can do to improve in the nest chapter.
> 
> I also love adding title cards, it's one of the things I look forward to doing when I write some fanfictions. Next one will have the arc title on it!


	2. Ryuji Meets the Phantom Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji stumbles into the Metaverse, and joins forces with a Phantom Thief who wants to take down Kamoshida.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looooong Chapter. This is basically setting up the universes logic with the Metaverse and how Joker gets out, gets himself a place to stay.
> 
> And also surprise! Early chapter, I have my first job interview and I wanna get this chapter outta the way before I hopefully land the job. :3

 

 

[ ](https://ibb.co/mtt5q8)

Saturday, April 9th, 20XX

##  **Early Morning**

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

_Another year with him…_ Sakamoto Ryuji-san sighed, _Of all the people in the school it had to be Takamaki Anne-san_ … He clenched his fists, breathing out an angry sigh, And then put his hands back inside his pockets, regretting, not saying anything to the teacher as he drove away with her in the passenger seat. Only a few seconds earlier would’ve given him the chance to say something snarky, but it was a selfish wish he wished for. “Asshole…” He mumbled to himself, disappointed.

One bad word or anything against Kamoshida is basically putting the whole school against you, Ryuji knew, because he did something like that, but he didn’t regret it either. Someone needed to show him the school was not his stupid fucking castle. Going back to Syujin after a terrible first year left a bitter taste in Ryuji’s throat. He hated the idea of even being in the same place where Kamoshida worked the track team.

He hoped that this year would be easier on his Mom. She was the only one who seemed to understand his hesitation on going back to Shujin. _Self defense…_ Was the Principal’s outcry when he defended Kamoshida. His Mother knew it was more than that. He confided to her all the dark secrets Kamoshida did while he was on the team.

No one spoke out of his abuse, for fear that the next gym teacher wouldn’t lead the team to nationals consecutively every single year. This school wanted pride to reek from every single inch of it’s curricular activities, more than that, Ryuji was just another person who had his track career ruined.

For Ryuji, he believed that Kamoshida blackmailed students and threatened to take away their ability to play when it came to playing in competitions. He had full control over them and they took the abuse, because they truly wanted to be a part of the winning team, or; they believed that they had no power against a teacher like Kamoshida.

This year was going to be different! He could feel it in his bones as he walked to school. He’s already died his hair blonde, he was sick of his black hair, anyway. And despite the schools regulation for a white shirt, he couldn’t do that either. He wore a bright yellow t-shirt with ZOMG in bright emphasizing it.

Ryuji had changed himself a lot in just a few months. He felt better, and found himself doing a routine of strengthening his body by going to the gym occasionally. Other days he’d train in the commons area after school. Today, he felt like it was a good day to get back at it. He just couldn’t sit around and not do anything about it anymore. Facing a few months where he couldn’t move around very easily, was the worst few months of his life.

Ryuji decided he’d get some ramen from one of his favorite restaurants afterwards. He walked down his familiar path from the train station, everyone seemed fine. He turned down the corner and felt a headache, coming on. He grunted, but continued onwards, turning around the corner and coming upon what should have been the school.

Instead, what leaned over him was a huge looming castle high in the air before him, with the sky looking deep purple. Ryuji shrugged it off, looking at the nameplates on the castle. It read Syujin in Japanese. He thought this must be a prank. He wasn’t the brightest person in the world, but at least he could find his way around. He walked up to the entrance and walked around like he normally would, looking for his classroom, but was surprised to see the place looking unfamiliar. The entrance was huge! With red carpet all on the floors, huge staircases going up from each side. This was the biggest elaborate prank Ryuji thought he saw. “Okay guys, you can stop with this prank already. You’ve got me fooled!” He tried to act cool, going along with it. There was knights armor statues there as well, he walked over and touched the statues, feeling his fingertips get cold from the armor. “Man, these feel too real…” The armor creaked, springing to life before him. It raised it’s sword and pointed it at Ryuji. He slowly started backing away. “It isn’t funny dude, you can quit it with the prank!” He yelled at the armor, it swung at him, before he hit another armored statue alive behind him. “What the hell is wrong with you guys?!?” The other one carried a huge shield. The armor slammed against the back of his bad leg, causing him to cry out in pain. “ARGH!” His legs slammed into the ground. “What is effin' wrong with you guys?!?” He yelled before he felt a large hit to the back of the neck.

* * *

Ryuji didn't know what time it was before woke up on a cold hard floor. His head still aching from earlier before. “Man that hurt like hell…” he complained. He was surrounded with nothing but cement walls with bars like a prison. He ran at the cell bars, slamming his fists, “Let me out of here! Is this some kinda sick joke?!”

“This is not some kind of sick joke prisoner. You thought that by walking into my castle, there would be no repercussions?” A familiar voice rung from the hallway. Ryuji knew that voice, he hated Kamoshida with a passion. His suspicions were confirmed when the familiar face looked back at him through the bars with a stupid grin on his face. “What the hell’s that s’posed to mean?!” He yelled, slamming his fists against the bars.

Ryuji got a good look at Kamoshida. He was wearing the most ridiculous outfit possible, wearing a kind cape while in his pretty pink underwear with his hairy legs showing. This was priceless! He couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. “Got that from the half-priced costume store?! You really want to look like a King don’t you?!?” He remarked. The bars burst open and he was pounded into the floor. Yeah… he knew it was coming...

“Guards take care of this peasant. He deserves the death penalty for what he has done.” The armor nodded, moving towards Ryuji. And Kamoshida just stood there, watching him.

He couldn’t let Kamoshida see him like that. Not ever again. He pulled himself together and kicked the armor, knocking it down. One down, but there was another, he tried punching the other one, only to get punched back, slamming against the wall. The guard held him against the wall by the throat, punching his stomach. The spit out some blood, he could handle this. This wasn’t as bad as what Kamoshida did to him a few months ago, but it still hurt. He hated stupid adults like him that think they could walk all over kids, make them feel inferior, denied them the rights they deserved. He wished he was stronger, so he could take these guys down no problem. He knew that he couldn’t win for long. His stamina was running low. Ryuji admitted to himself that he couldn’t win this battle. The guards pinned him back, and Kamoshida the cell. “Suddenly a person ran past Kamoshida behind him. “Help!!!” He yelled, trying to get their attention. He tried flailing his arms. The guard looked out pulling the cell open to go outside leaving him in the prison cell. Only a moment later he heard the sound of a knife cutting across someone’s throat.

Kamoshida jerked his head out of the cell to see what was going on, and a fist slammed against his face knocking him to the ground. A man in black clothing with a mask appeared in front of him, he unlocked the door, helping Ryuji to his feet. “You alright?” He asked. “I could be better,” he muttered, gesturing to his black eye, brushing of the dust from his uniform.

“Let’s get outta here!” Ryuji grabbed the keys that the guards dropped on the floor and locked Kamoshida as quickly as he could. “That’ll teach ya, you son of a bitch!” Ryuji laughed with wild abandon, following the Phantom Thief away from the cell. Ryuji threw the keys into the water, with hopes that the cell will never open again.

“Guards! After them!” Kamoshida yelled, “Damn you! I won't let you escape!” He cursed and pointed at them like the weakling he was.

They ran like their life depended on it, looking for a way out. From a distance Joker could see a broken wooden bridge leading to the other side, he could probably make it if he jumped. He leaped across it and turned left, going through a Broken cell gate. The path lead him to some cages that had fallen in the river. He jumped from one to another seamlessly.

“So what’s a person like you doing at our school? You a transfer student or what?” Ryuji asked as they kept walking.

“Transfer student?” The masked man scratched their head.

“What’s a transfer student? This place isn’t a school.”

“Then what is it?” Ryuji griped.

“Your inside a place known as the metaverse.” The Phantom Thief replied. “It may look like your school, but this is all cognitively made by the person who’s desires have been warped beyond normal standards.”

“Metaverse?!? What kind of fool do you think I am?!? You sound like a crazy person!” Ryuji snarled at him, not believing a single word.

“How can you not believe me?! I can prove that this place isn’t normal!”

“I’ll show you then.” The person took a few steps back. The masked man grabbed their masked and yanked it off his face, yelling “PERSONA!” as blood spewed from his entire forehead. Blue flames came forth surrounding his entire body until another figure appeared behind him. It looked to be some kind of demon with chain connecting to the man. “Does your world have anything like a Persona?” He asked, with a sly smile on his face. “Dude! How did I get powers like that?” Ryuji asked, looking at his persona. “You shouldn’t be here though, you will get yourself killed if you can’t defend yourself like that.”

“But I didn’t mean to come here!” Ryuji exclaimed. “I was just heading to my school like normal and somehow I ended up here… So what are you doing here inside asshole Kamoshida’s head?”

“I was looking to get rid of his distorted desires. It seems he views everyone as slaves and thinks of your school as his own castle.” The Phantom Thief inquired.

“That does sound like him.” Ryuji agreed. “You're not going to do that without my help. I have something against him as well.”

One of the cells was unlocked, on the inside there was a huge gaping hole on the side. Looks like someone or something was trying to dig their way to salvation. “I don’t think you can handle doing battle with the creatures that lurk around here.”

The Phantom began crawling through the tunnel. “That’s just another way of sayin’ I’m too weak!” Ryuji growled.

“What I’m saying is you’re unprepared for battle. You don’t even have a weapon to help you out.”

“Oh.” Ryuji said. “A weapon could’ve helped me out for sure.” Across from them was a drawbridge, still in good use. They began running again and going down to the end of the hallway. The Phantom Thief shushed Ryuji, noticing guards were already searching for a moving target.

“Hey look!” Ryuji whispered, he noticed something new: a staircase leading to the next floor upwards. “Let’s go!” The Phantom Thief whispered, gesturing for him to go, he ran behind Ryuji ascending the spiral staircase. By the time they reached top, Ryuji was out of breath. “Sorry if I’m slowing you down. I have poor stamina…” The Phantom Thief patted him on the back and helped him stand up straight.

“There is something you can help me out with. I was made from this universe for the sole purpose of righting the wrongs of people and getting rid of the source of people’s cruelty. I was made from the collective unconscious of people who wanted a hero who lurked in the shadows secretly helping people.”

“Wait. So, you aren’t actually real?” Ryuji asked, questioning his honesty. “It's true!" Joker asserted. "I only exist as a cognitive thought from this place. If you could strike a deal maybe, then I would have a tether to the outside world, allowing me to get out of this place.”

“How do I do that?”

“By agreeing to help me out in this universe, basically coming with me as backup and fighting.”

“Yeah, you can’t just fight by yourself out here. I wanna help you, and you’re also going against someone I’ve been waiting to get revenge against, so we’ll be teammates.” Ryuji was already liking the idea of taking down Kamoshida, this just sealed the deal for him.

“I never really introduced myself, but I am known as Joker, also known as the Phantom Thief.”

“Cool, the names Sakamoto Ryuji-san, but you can call me Ryuji. I think we’ll get along good as partners in crime.”

“So is it a deal?” Joker raised his hand to him.

“It’s a deal!” Ryuji shook his hand and a deal was born!

**I am thou and thou art I… Thou hast established a new bond. With the birth of the Chariot persona your bond shall brigeth new powers...**

An unknown strength flowed through Ryuji, even he could see himself radiate in a magical glow. “Whoa!” Ryuji could feel the magical energy as well. “I guess that means it worked?” Ryuji said.

“I think so, Morgana, the other Persona user helping me said that a bond with someone was precious, that trying that with someone who does not share the same ideals with me would not work with the contract. But I feel like we’ll get along great.”

“So, it’s like a bond between friends?”

“Correct.”

“Sorry if I have to ask things again," Ryuji apologized. "I’ve always had a hard time learning stuff, and things like Persona’s and how you exist seem very complicated.”

“That’s alright, if you’d like me to go over anything else just let me know and I can try to simplify it to make things easier.”

"Thanks, but for now I kinda got a grasp of it. If there's anything new, you can tell me about it."

“So, working together should allow me to enter your world. As long as we are connected by that bond I should be able to help you out in the real world. Or, that’s what I think will happen. I haven’t tried it out yet.”

“I’m sure it will. Now that I’m thinking about it we should probably find a place for you to stay, my mom wouldn’t mind if you stayed with us for a few days. It’ll be temporary in case I find you a better place to stay at. Now how do we get out of here?”

“How about trying where you first came in?”

“Uh… I was kinda knocked out by the guys you took down, so let’s look around and try to find a way out.”

“Alright, we should remember the layout so it’ll be easier to come back next time.”

“Let’s go kick some ass!” Joker put a finger to his lips, silencing the loud Ryuji. He sulked for a moment, but reluctantly complied with Joker, drooping his shoulders. They walked around the empty cells, looking for another room, and found themselves solving puzzles to even exit the place. It wasn’t until a few rooms later they came upon a cat of some kind locked up in a cell. “They locked you up again Morgana?” Joker asked, getting the keys, hanging from a few feet away.

“It was my fault, I wasn’t being stealthy enough and the guys caught me. Jerks.” Morgana scoffed, angry at himself.

“That’s the persona user? Why is he a cat?!” Ryuji asked.

“I am not a cat! I am guiding your masked helper here with his journey to become the best Phantom Thief the world has ever known!” Morgana cried. "You should be grateful to even work with this guy, he's already become a pro within a few hours."

“We help each other out,” Joker said. “Be nice, he’s a confidant.”

“Well, yeah, or else he wouldn’t be able to enter the Metaverse in the first place.” Morgana replied smart-elecky. “Only people who have a Persona, or are touching a Persona user can enter the place. Still, I congratulate you for forming your first contract. This one still hasn’t realized his true potential yet though...”

“I was about to ask, how does one get a Persona?” Ryuji raised a questioning finger.

“You have to confront your inner self and unleash the rebellion in your heart.” Joker replied. “It’s something that’ll happen when we need it most. A Persona always knows the perfect time of need, so forcing yourself to try to do what we do will only prevent it. Best to let things happen naturally.”

Ryuji contemplated on what that meant, but he just thought pushed it aside and focused on finding an exit. “Try that statue by the drawbridge over there,” Morgana pointed at the statue that resembled Kamoshida. “He always had a stupid big chin.” Ryuji remarked, yanking the chin downwards and the drawbridge slowly lowered.

“Looks like you knew something after all!” Morgana said, just as two shadow guards faced them.

"HEY!" Ryuji yelled, slowly turning his head, noticing them as well. "OH SHIT!"

“Let’s take em’ down Joker!” Charging at the enemy. They revealed their true form, an incubus and a jack-o’-Lantern looking enemy. “Right now it looks like we can only find one weakness, but that’s fine. Take him out with your Eiga, " He pointed to the Jack o' lantern looking enemy. "He's weak to evil attacks. You focus on him, I’ll focus on the incubus.”

“You just want to show your skills off in front of the newbie.” Joker remarked.

“Maybe,” Morgana answered, with a swagger in his step.

Joker summoned his Persona, a tall humanoid-like demon that had the aura of a gentleman. "I shall strike them down!" He said, surrounding the Jack o' Lantern in red and black dark magic, striking him from every direction, knocking him out.

"Lookin' cool Joker! Now it's my time to shine..." Morgana stepped forward, putting forward his best debonair persona, "Zorro, Strike with your might!" And sent forth strong green wind magic towards the Incubus, sending the enemy down. 

They both wiped their hands, looking like pure pros. "That's was nothing!" Morgana scoffed.

“Aw man, the cat has one as well?!?" Ryuji asked, surprised. "Man, I feel like the weakest link…”

“You’re not!” Joker reassured him. “Your persona will come in due time, You should have the ability, you just need to find yourself, only when you can accept yourself does your persona come through.”

“Isn’t the idea of a Persona from Psych class?”

“Jungian’s Persona Psychology Theory? Yes. You know of it?”

“A little bit, it was kinda interesting, but I couldn’t understand some of the other ideas it was trying to explain.”

“That’s alright, even I don’t know everything about the metaverse, but it seems as though the ideas from Jungian were made reality in this world with Persona’s and the unconscious mind.”

“If you guys are done talking, I’ve found your exit!” Morgana got their attention. They followed the cat all the way to the beginning of the castle, Joker noticed an exit and made his way to grab the ventillation shaft cover, Ryuji helped him put it down.

“I’m gonna try and investigate a little further. Go on without me Joker, I’ll catch up with you later.”

“You better not get captured again, Morgana. Don’t let your guard down.” Joker warned.

“I know!!!” Morgana swatted at him. “Now get going!”

* * *

##  **Nearing the End of School**

**Joker**

The Metaverse began to disappear like a dream they just woke up from. Ryuji and Joker returned to the real world falling in the middle of the street with questionable looks coming from every which direction. Joker’s clothes had magically changed to Syujin Academy attire, along with black glasses. His eyes were no longer crimson but dark like his hair. “Whoa, the uniform looks good on you…” Ryuji complimented, with a surprised look on his face.

Joker was in the bustling city of Tokyo, all he could do was gasp in awe. People’s palaces were dark and bleak compared to real life. “Oh crap!” Ryuji gazed at his phone, it was lunchtime and Ryuji had already missed most of his classes. “The teachers are gonna kill me…” Ryuji griped. Joker instinctively pat Ryuji’s head. He looked pissed off, but just sighed. “Sorry, I do that when Morgana feels down…” Joker admitted.

“I am not a cat though!” Ryuji exclaimed, huffing angrily. “Just give me your phone,” Ryuji said, jerking Jokers phone away from him. He began to rapidly type away on his phone and handed it back to him, “I put in my address, it’s a few minutes away from here. Also put in my number just in case you wanted to text while I’m still at school.” He threw Joker the keys as he started walking away. “You aren’t actually a student at the school yet, you’ll need to register yourself when you can.” Joker nodded, and started following directions, heading the other way.

* * *

##  **After School**

**Joker**

A few minutes later, the navigation directed begun to direct him somewhere else. It began redirecting him in another direction. Joker followed it, leading to somewhere in a back alley, where it stopped in front of a café.

Leblanc, the sign read, it was a small place looking from the outside, but he could smell something delicious. He found himself walking in on instinct. A little bell went off as the scent of coffee burst from the doors.

“So your the kid, huh?” A man in a black apron with a pink shirt asked. Joker pointed to himself, “Me?”

“Yes, you, you’re the one I was asked to look after? Dark black hair and a shujin uniform?”

“Someone asked you to look after me? What did this person look like?” Joker asked.

“He was hunched over, long nose.”

“Ah, that’s Igor.” I replied. “Yes, I was looking for a place to stay, so you’re alright with me staying here?”

“Yes, it’s fine. I got a few things ready, but the place is still dirty up in the attic, I only had a little time before some customers came in.”

“That’s alright. Thank you for allowing me to stay.”

“So, the man seemed very... eccentric.” Sojiro said. That was an understandable reaction.

“He may seem that way, but he means well.”

“If you say so…” he replied. Joker had no idea what to say, “Uh… I haven’t started yet, I’m starting in the next few days.” Joker was about to say he didn’t have a name, but that was wrong. He just couldn’t say he was named Joker. He had to give a real name. “Kurusu akira-san.” The words burst from his lips. “Let me show you upstairs.” Sojiro started heading to the back, with Akira walking behind. They both climbed the stairs and reached the attic, Akira coughed, the dust heavily blanketed everything upstairs.

“Sorry,” Sojiro apologized. “I haven’t cleaned up here in a while.”

“That’s alright. Do you need any help down there?”

“I’m alright. You can help me out later, though once the place is closed.”

“I’ll get things cleaned up over here, don’t mind me.” Akira grabbed a duster and began wiping down everything, dusting the old books that cluttered a big bookshelf and desk, along with a table that looks like a tv could sit on it.

Akira studied the room, seeing what he could do next. At the moment, all he could do was clean up the floor, and take out any unnecessary clutter.

* * *

##  **Evening**

**Akira Kurusu**

Cleaning the floors gave him **proficiency** to be able to do his work better, but because of that, Akira had forgotten the time, noticing that it was already dark outside. The books that littered the floor were put to the side, waiting to be organized.

Then Akira had this weird feeling he forgot something. He remembered Ryuji had given him the keys to his place. After cleaning up the attic, his phone rung. “Why aren’t you at my place?!?” Was the first thing Akira heard. “I gave you my keys! You’re lucky my Mom had a secret pair kept in the front of the house. I would’ve had to wait until she got back!” Ryuji scolded Akira. He could imagine him pointing a dissuading finger at him behind the phone. “Sorry!” Akira apologized, “The navigation you gave me changed and led me to a cafe!”

”How did that happen?!”

“It was Igor’s way of saying he got me a place to stay.”

“Who’s Igor?”

“The guy who gave me the ability to go into the Metaverse.”

“Oh.” He paused. “So where are you staying at?” “In the attic at Café Leblanc.”

“Isn’t that like a coffee place in Yongen?”

“Yup, and he also makes curry.”

“Weird. Tomorrow is Sunday, maybe you could ask him to help you get registered for classes. And try to get into second year classes, that’s my grade. We need to stick together, us teammates!”

“Alright, I’ll ask him.”

"Alright," Ryuji replied and hung up. Akira headed downstairs, only a couple was left sitting in one of the booths. “How’s everything going up there?” Sojiro asked.

“It’s a lot better, The floors clean, but everything else is still kinda cluttered. I’ll clean up some more stuff when I can. So, would you mind helping me get registered for school tomorrow? I want to get started on Monday.”

Sojiro sighed, “Alright, we’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, can I help you out at all down here?”

“Sure, you can clean up the table after the customers are finished.”

**From the KINDNESS of your heart you gained experience from cleaning tables!**

This must’ve been what Morgana was talking about, saying that if we do stuff it’ll improve certain stats for real life situations, Akira thought. “Thanks,” Sojiro said, cleaning one of the coffee pots. “I’ll close up for tonight, thanks for your help.”

A few minutes later he heard a phone go off downstairs. He hurried his feet down to answer. “Hello?” He greeted. “It’s me, Sojiro. Stupid me forgot to change the sign to close before I left, can you do that for me?”

“Sure,” Akira replied. “Thanks.” And he hung up. He went to unlock the door and went outside, the sign still read OPEN, he flipped it over and went back inside.

Akira headed back upstairs, noticing a cold breeze in the room. The attic window was left wide open, with Morgana stretching his body. “Ah!” Morgana sighed. “Igor got you a pretty spacious room.”

“Yeah, he did. How does he know when stuff like that happens?”

“He said he knows a lot of things, when it comes to people who’ve signed a contract, he wants to look out for them and make sure they succeed. But that still didn’t answer my question…” Morgana said, with an unsatisfied look on their face. “He still is mysterious even to me.”

“So Igor let you know I was staying at Leblanc?”

“Yeah. When I was done investigating the palace I went back to Igor and he told me you were staying here, so he showed me to one of his portals that was closest to Le Blanc and I walked on my own over here.”

“So you gonna like this place?”

“I think so, I’m gonna smell like coffee though.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“Nah, it kinda feels nice.”

“This place is still kinda dusty…” Morgana remarked. “It’ll get cleaned up, I gotta get registered for tomorrow."

“Well then you better get your energy up! Get some sleep.” Morgana leaped from his bed, and He began to set out a blanket and changed to his pajamas. Morgana made himself comfy, sleeping near his feet.

* * *

##  **Dream**

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira appeared back at the Velvet Room, alongside Morgana.

“I see you’ve made yourself home at Leblanc’s. You’re in good hands, and you’ve managed to finally have your first step out of the Metaverse. You have done a lot within your first day.” Igor said, congratulating him.

“It’s also because of you, Igor, thank you for assisting me.” Joker bowed.

“Now tomorrow, you’ll be registered for school, all the information has been given by me to them, proving you’ve existed in the real world. All you need is to get some paperwork.”

“Paperwork?” Akira asked, “What kind of paperwork?”

“Special paperwork showing that you previously had a “heart condition” allowing you to skip the class with your enemy, Kamoshida. Involving yourself with him outside of class will only make matters worse. You’ll be dealing with him enough in the Metaverse.”

“Good thinking, Igor!” Morgana cheered.

“The rest is up to you to decide how things go, we shall meet again, but it will be of your own accord, Phantom Thief.”

Akira nodded, and Igor waved him off, and they both disappeared. Joker had more questions to ask, but was swept away before he could even speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always, if anyone can help make this fic better, comment what could be improved on, the more comments always help. next chapter will be a bit shorter, but that's because it's registration for Kurusu Akira-san!


	3. Enrolling at Syujin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira enrolls at Syujin, normal slice of life stuff goes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter, I felt tempted to write more, so I kinda completed this chapter a little bit after I did the previous chapter a few days ago.

**Sunday, April 10th, 20XX**

##  **Early Morning**

Akira woke up smelling coffee brewing. The sun had just begun to warm the room as the sunlight began to strike the room.

Morgana had fallen asleep on his chest. In this world he didn’t look cartoonish, here he was a regular cat that only seemed a little off with his bright sky blue eyes and his yellow collar. He could hear footsteps making their way up, creaking on the old wooden boards. He closed my eyes, trying to look still asleep. “Akira,” Sojiro said, shaking his shoulder. “Where’d the cat come from?”

“I heard meowing outside and found him straying about, so I brought him in. It seemed like he was a stray.” Akira lied, hoping he’d believe him. Sojiro sighed, looking at the cat. He smiled. This was his one weakness. “Alright, you can keep him,” The seriousness in his tone melted away as he scratched Morgana behind his ears. He purred, like the happiest kitten in the world. “Just keep him away from the customers and care for him.” He stroked Morgana once more before handing Akira some clothes. “I think these should fit for now, I’ll give you some money and you can go out and buy something more fitting.”

“Thank you, I’ll be down there in a few minutes.” Sojiro seemed as calm as he could be, nodding and heading downstairs. He gave me some black pants and jacket along with a white shirt. They did seem only a little bit loose, but other than that they didn’t look too baggy. Akira combed his hair, and put his glasses back on, and headed downstairs. “Bye Morgana, I’ll be back later.” He called out,and let Morgana be, _sleeping in must be nice,_ Akira thought.

For today though, Akira had to wake up early. He had no idea where Syujin was, or how long it’d take for them to get there. “For the time being I will be stepping up as your guardian, if they ask for any contact information.”

“So, have you been to Syujin before?” Akira asked, heading to the door.

“I went there for my last few years of high school, like you did.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. I used to be in the same class as a guy named Kamoshida. I think he runs the track and Volleyball team.”

“I thought I heard, he became an Olympic Medalist. Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him, when he gets determined, nothing stands in his way. He seemed like an alright guy, I didn’t know him that much though.”

“That’s alright, you can’t keep in touch with everyone.”

“Yeah, but those were some good times. If you didn’t know, I was quite the one with the ladies, back in those years. But now that I look back on it, I kinda wished I would’ve had better grades, before I went to college. You only get to study for all the times you are in school, so take what you can.”

“I plan on doing my best, I always want to put my best work forward.”

“That’s a good philosophy to have, but also it’s best to make friends while you’re here. They can always help you and have your back.”

“I hope that this year I make a lot as well.”

“So where’d you transfer from anyway?”

“U-uh…” Akira’s mind blanked. “Our school was called, Gekkoukan High school!” He just blurted out what came to his mind.

“I’ve heard of that school. It’s really far, so why did your parents want you here? That place is way out in the country, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I kinda like the city more, there are more things to do around here.”

“Also, my parents thought I’d like a change, so they suggested I try doing it in a place where I was more comfortable.”

“So how long do they want you to stay here, for the year, I guess?”

“Yes, to see if I’d like to stay in the area for the next year.”

“To be honest, small towns like that often make me think that small rumors would go everywhere, it kinda stressed me out a bit…”

* * *

##  **Noon**

We got here three hours later. It was nothing but traffic-blazed fumes going their direction the entire way. Syujin Academy was one of those average looking schools on the outside. It was not the same at all from when we went into Metaverse. Sojiro instinctively knew where he was going, Akira followed along beside him.

The principal reminded Akira of a potato, but if he said anything like that, it would be strike one against him. Akira tried his best to present himself in a calm and collective manner. Not knowing how everything worked at high school made him feel so out of his league here. He had no idea what to expect, the Metaverse was nothing like this at all either.

When the got into the Principal’s office, Igor had already filled everything out, like the most efficient person in the world. All he needed to pick up was his student ID and get information on everything else.

“You’re parents let us know you previously had a heart condition nearing the end of your school year. Are you feeling better?” The principal asked, concerned. “I’m doing better, I wanted to know if there was anything I missed while I was in the hospital the last few month?” Akira lied nonchalantly.

“We’ll get some papers letting you know what you missed and what you need to focus on for this year. Just to let you know, you are excused from and physical activities because of your condition. We want to make sure we don’t jeopardize your good condition.” The principal gestured to the Lady standing beside him, “Kawakami-sensei will show you around school tomorrow and introduce you to her class.”

“Here’s your Student ID,” She handed it to him. “We look forward to have another successful student in our midst.” He said with a smile. Even with his go-getting attitude Akira could feel that wasn’t the real him. He hid himself behind a mask, expectant of a principal, just like Akira was doing, trying to fit in in this world.

* * *

##  **Daytime**

Akira’s phone buzzed, while they sat in traffic. What else did he have better to do? He checked it and noticed Ryuji left him a message:

 

 

> **Ryuji > you got registered?**
> 
> **Akira > I’m in Kawakami-sensei’s class.**
> 
> **Ryuji > sweet! but that’s not my class though… Im stuck in another class, kikuragi-sensei’s class...**
> 
> **Akira > That’s alright, we’ll just have to meet up when class is done.**
> 
> **Ryuji > or during lunch, i think they allow people to go and eat in another class**
> 
> **Ryuji > So let me know what I can do to back you up when we get back to the Meta-place in the next few days**
> 
> **Akira > Let’s see… You can improve your ** **_Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Kindness, and Charm._ **
> 
> **Ryuji > sounds like were playing a video game instead of real life stuff**
> 
> **Akira > Video game?**
> 
> **Ryuji > man i need to show you what havin fun in the real world is**
> 
> **Ryuji > in a way, those stats reminded me of a game i played a few years ago about a team that had to take down shadow-like enemies during the midnight hour, the team also had summoning helpers to do magic attacks on enemies, but they had to face death, by essentially shootin themselves in the head**
> 
> **Akira > That seems kinda dark, but what game is it?**
> 
> **Ryuji > p___s_na 3 i think.**
> 
> **Akira > Your text isn’t appearing right on my screen.**
> 
> **Ryuji > anyways.**

There was a long pause before he texted again.

 

 

> **Ryuji > i can improve my knowledge?! which means i can get smarter?**
> 
> **Akira > Yeah, I’ll need Morgana to see your stats and see which one you need to improve the most. All of it helps with keeping me to this universe, so every little bit counts.**
> 
> **Ryuji > then if it helps you, ill try to improve all of them! lets do it together!**
> 
> **Akira > Are you sure you want to do that? It’ll be a long time trying to improve everything.**
> 
> **Ryuji > im damn sure! im not backin down now! especially since you want to prove you can be the best**
> 
> **Akira > Alright. So, I’ll try to sneak in Morgana tomorrow and we’ll meet at lunch.**
> 
> **Ryuji > Its a plan!**
> 
>  

“Who you texting?” Sojiro asked. Akira raised his head. “A friend,” he answered simply. “He’s going to the same school.”

“Is he going to get you in trouble?” He asked. “I just want you to have a nice year, taking it easy.”

“He is.”

“Good. I didn’t know that you had a heart condition, previously. Do I need to get any prescriptions?”

“Nope, they want me to lean off those and just take it easy, like the Principal said.”

“If anything feels off, don’t hesitate to call me over. Even if it’s in the middle of the night call me.”

“I will, trust me, I don’t want anything bad happening to me, like before.” Akira hated lying to him, but he would never believe that he was a cognitive thought. He was sitting right beside him with a body, voice and mind, talking right to his face.

 ** _“Unfortunately, another subway has derailed at the station, so be aware of delays…_** The radio announced, Sojiro turned it down, focusing on the road again.

“These accidents have been occurring frequently, haven’t they?” Sojiro asked.

“This has been the first I’ve heard about it,” Akira replied.

“A few days ago,  the same thing happened, Maybe that’s why the roads are so crowded today.”

 **"** Maybe, I hope things start to clear out."

"So do I..."

It was a while later before Akira got back home, he check his phone and noticed Ryuji sent him an album. **“I thought this soundtrack reminded me of you, so here’s a copy for you to listen to. I think you’ll like it.”** Akira smiled at his phone.  _Thank you._

* * *

##  **Evening**

It was a while before they got back to the cafe. “Tomorrow I’ll give you my train pass. That’ll be easier for you to get from here to there, because I know you don’t want to deal with that everyday.” Sojiro said, gesturing outside. “Man, it was a long day and I didn’t even get to open the cafe today…”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve just taken the train.” Akira apologized, looking down at the ground. “No, don’t be sorry, I needed to be there, mostly to make sure everything was alright.”

“Thank you for coming. If there’s anything I can help you out with, let me know.”

“Oh! That reminds me, Igor asked me to give this to you.” He pulled out a book of some kind. “He wanted you to keep a journal to help you focus on your writing. He challenges you to at least write something, whether it be a few sentences or not every day while you’re here.”

Akira nodded, taking the journal from his hands. Soon a loud noise chimed from his phone. “Sojiro speaking.” He answered. “I’m leaving right now.  I’ll be over there as soon as possible. See you soon.” And hung up. “Alright, I’m heading off. I’ll lock the place up, so if you’re hungry make yourself some food, do whatever you want for the rest of the night. Just make sure things are cleaned and put up by the time I get back in the morning.”

“I will,” Akira said, nodding. “I wouldn’t make a mess without cleaning it up.”

“Good, your parents taught you well. Good night,” He said, heading downstairs.

“Good night, Sojiro.”

Once Akira heard him lock the door downstairs he immediately opened up the journal. Inside it Igor had written him a letter to him:

**“During your journey to become the Phantom Thief know that there will be obstacles ahead. More often enough, death will stare you in the face, making the struggle to complete your goal, even harder. That is why I have given you this journal. It will save all the progress you’ve made, so in the case of dying in battle, you’ll go back to when you were once alive, changing your outcome. Just write how your day went, like a normal journal and you should be fine. Good luck Phantom Thief.” -Igor**

_The ability to cheat death…_ Akira thought.

“Welcome back, Akira.” Morgana greeted him. “So that’s what Igor gave you, huh?” He pointed with his paw.

“Yes, the ability to cheat death itself…”

“Igor sure is putting a lot of faith in you, I believe in you as well. As long as we all work together, I’m sure you’ll become the best Phantom Thief, abolishing terrible adults evil crimes. So, how’d everything go?” Morgana asked. Akira put his paperwork on the littered desk, and breathed a long and heavy sigh. “That bad, huh?”

“It wasn’t bad, it was just _boring_. I had to basically act like I was a mature kid, but I know that isn’t really who I truly am. I had to act like I belonged there.”

“Yeah, coming from the Metaverse, all you’ve known is thievery. It’s perfectly natural to assume that that’s not how everyone else acts in this world. Things’ll get easier. Just focus on raising your social stats as well as trying to get Ryuji to raise his.”

“He’s already wanting to meet up and help me out by improving our stats together.”

“Good! While you were in the metaverse, you were able to to negotiate well with shadows. That raised your knowledge a lot, I can see you're at least **learning.**  Did you find it a little bit easier to talk to people and maintain composure?"

"Now that I think about it, I was able to have good conversations with Sojiro..."

"That's why. Knowledge helps you learn how to deal with the situation and already know things with knowledge. Even if you've been in the Metaverse since your coming about, you're remembering things as if you've already experienced it. I can't say the same for me yet..." Morgana sighed. "I can’t really help you out that much, with social stats, I can read what level peoples stats are at, but my stats are very circumstantial.”

“How do I raise yours?”

“With me, the whole entire team has to put a big effort into completing palaces. My social stats depend on that because I’m a guide. Helping you complete your mission helps me.”

“So some confidants may be circumstantial?”

“Yes, Igor is another example. He also ranks up by you completing palaces. He and I have a different social link system than everyone else.”

“That does make sense, you two are important in a different way, not only are you a teammate, but also a guide.”

“Yup! Also why would those stats help a cat like me? Could I be able to charm Sojiro into getting me some Sushi?” Morgana could see himself sitting with a mile high supply of sushi right in front of him, his mouth watered just at the thought.

That night, Akira looked on his phone to see which trains he should take, he kept reminding himself _Yongen-Jaya to Aoyama-Itchome, then transfer to the Ginza line… Looks like I’ll need to head out to Shibuya station tomorrow._

“What are you doing up so late?” Morgana cried. “You should get some sleep, I’ll need my energy to see Ryuji tomorrow.”

Akira sighed, “For a cat, you sure are bossy.”

“That’s what I do best.” The cat scoffed at such a remark. “Now... GO TO SLEEP!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always, let me know what I can improve on and hopefully look forward to another chapter on the 28th!
> 
> Akira's social stats as of that moment:  
> Knowledge: Learned  
> Guts: Milquetoast  
> Proficiency: skilled  
> Kindness: Considerate  
> Charm: Debonair MAX  
> He's a Phantom Thief, you've always got to be charming.


	4. Transfer Student Kurusu Akira-san

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of school for Akira, things go pretty well... for the first day.
> 
> Then we get to see what goes on at the Sakamoto household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to say during the last time I posted a chapter a lot of things have happened. I became a proofreader for the great Raindene who is writing the Trials of Love series. I got my first job helping out at my college, and a person backed into my car, damaging it. All before I go for summer classes back on the 9th of July. Whew! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

**Monday, April 11th, 20XX**

##  **Early Morning**

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira’s phone alarm went off with a smooth tune. It was the perfect tune to keep him pumped in the morning. The way everything was, it felt like the perfect soundtrack to his life. **“Wake up, get up, get out there!”** He hummed along to the song as he got dressed and brushed his hair and teeth, grabbing his bag. Morgana climbed inside it and they headed downstairs.

“Good morning Sojiro-san.” Akira greeted him.

“Good morning to you too, how’d you rest?” He asked.

“I slept good, I just came downstairs to make me some breakfast.” Sojiro slid a plate of curry onto the table.

“Thank you,” Akira said. He was about to ask why he made him curry for breakfast, but was silenced by Sojiro.

“Just eat it, it’s good.”

He didn’t complain, and quickly ate his food, because he wanted to leave soon. He could taste a perfect balance of heat and sweetness to the dish, it was like eating heaven. “Mmm.” Akira complimented. “That was delicious.”

“Now you know why curry is my specialty. I suggest you head out early, finding your way around the station may feel a bit overwhelming, but I’m sure you’ll get used to it.”

“I will,” Akira waved him off, as he got up from his chair. “Thank you for the meal!” He grabbed his bag and headed out.

Today clouds filled the sky, but no rain seemed imminent for the moment.

Akira found he liked the sky when clouds seemed to cushion the sky, not because it made people feel tired, but because to him there was a peaceful feeling to a cloudy day.

“How’re you doing down there, Morgana?” He asked in a hush whisper.

“I’m doing as fine as I can, in a sloshing bag,” Morgana said sarcastically while scrunched up against the side by his journal and notebook, with some of the paperwork that the principal gave him. “I’m just peachy…” Morgana groaned.

“Sorry, you’ll get a break during lunch.” Akira quickened his legs and headed out to Yongen-Jaya station.

“You better worry about yourself too, I don’t think you had time to get lunch either.”

“Oh man… I didn’t did I?”

“Yeah, you need something for lunch. It’s not good to miss a meal like that.”

“I’ll have to look for something at the station quickly, before the next train leaves.”

* * *

The bustling city of tokyo was crowded, with people moving to and fro from every which direction. Even Akira had to admit it all seemed chaotic. But he made his way onto the train. The place was crammed full of people already. Akira, clutched onto his bag, as the train began to pull off.

In the train he could hear whispers of the accident that happened yesterday, it hurt Akira to hear that people passed away. He was going to change that, though. He was going to give people the inspiration to persevere by bringing about justice to the ones who committed terrible sins.

“ **_We are now heading towards Shibuya station. Thank you for riding with us!_ ** ” The lady announced on the intercom. He readied himself by getting closer to the exit doors. The train ceased moving and he headed out, coming to another station. _Maybe I’ll find some lunch here,_ Akira thought as he headed up the stairs to the next floor.

He looked around, searching for a shop that sold food, but all he could see was a drink stand. That wouldn’t even curb his hunger at lunch. Not one bit, but he did notice a worker starting to set everything up. The worker met eyes with him for a moment.

"Are you open?" Akira asked, pointing at the stand.

"Yes. What can I get you?"

"I'll take whatever you recommend." 

"Alright then, let me get you a strawberry smoothie." She quickly makes it, handing it to him. "Free of charge, for a charming man, like yourself."

"Thank you." Akira knows he's blushing, but gladly takes the smoothie and heads on his way to his next destination.

The directions kept telling him to go higher, so he followed as directed, heading up more stairs onto the station square. This place was bigger than he originally thought. Akira came out to a central station area. He could see the JL line, but where was Ginza? Akira walked up to a man and asked him, “Do you know where the Ginza line is supposed to be?”

The man pointed to the building right next to him, “It’s in the Teikyu building, just head up those stairs on the left.” He thanked him and headed off.

He finally arrived at the Ginza line train at last, and breathed a heavy sigh. _Here we go,_ and embarked off to his school: Syujin High School.

* * *

When Akira arrived, he knew this was it. Starting school for the first time.

Ryuji seemed to dislike school, but Akira was interested in learning new things. He hoped this would also help increase his knowledge. As he got up the stair he finished off his smoothie, throwing it in the trash.

Small droplets began to falls from the sky, Akira realized he forgot to bring an umbrella with him, before leaving Leblanc. As he was about to take a step out into the rain, a girl stood right beside him. He looked at her for a moment, feeling something familiar about her.

She looked back at him, with his bewildering good looks. “Hello,” He greeted her, his voice smooth as can be. “What’s a beautiful girl like you, standing out in the rain?”

She pulled out an umbrella, he held it for her, like a gentleman, keeping her hair free of a single drop of water. They walked to Syujin at an even pace, savoring the sweet moment. “Thank you,” She smiled, entering the school. He cleaned off the excess rain, swishing it the other way, and handed it back together. He went on his merry way to the faculty office. People noticed him, because he seemed to reek with his debonair charm. It seemed as if everything he did, every move he made was fitting of a gentleman thief.

 _Maybe I can do this after all,_ Akira thought as he opened the door. “Kawakami-sensei?” He called.

“Good, your on time.” She said, “Let me show you to your classroom.” He followed her, leading him upstairs into his new classroom. “Just introduce yourself like normal and you should be fine.” He walked in and stood up in front of the class in front of the chalkboard. He wrote his name in Kanji.

“We have a new transfer student, would you like to say a few words?”

“It’s nice to meet you all, I look forward to getting to meet you all.” Akira bowed.

“The new student seems so sophisticated…”

“I wonder what else he’s good at…”

“You can sit…” She pointed at a seat behind the girl he met earlier. “Right there. Now students please lend him a book before we get started on the next chapter.”

Akira headed to his new seat, but not before greeting the girl again. “I didn’t get your name before, what was it?”

“Takamaki Anne-san.” She smiled.

“What a beautiful name to match a lady such as yourself,” He kissed her hand before heading to his seat. Her face seemed red with embarrassment.

Akira’s felt a little more gutsy. All of a sudden, he felt like the most confident man in the world, was this because of his charm going through the roof?

“Who’s on duty for today?” Kawakami-sensei asked, before a boy stood up.

“Everyone please rise,” he said, sounding drained of all emotion.

* * *

##  **Lunch**

**Akira Kurusu**

Before he knew it a few periods had passed. Slowly but surely, it was time for him to get something to eat.

He headed downstairs to see if the bakery shop downstairs had any food, he just took whatever was available and started to text Ryuji:

 

 

> **Bread boy > Where do you want to eat? In class or somewhere else?**
> 
> **Ryuji > how ‘bout the rooftop**
> 
> **Bread boy >Isn’t that off limits?**
> 
> **Ryuji > i guess but do we really care**
> 
> **Bread boy > nah**
> 
> **Ryuji > k ill be there in a few mins**

 

Akira headed back upstairs, but he couldn’t help but notice everyone seemed to swoon when he went by. Man, his charm wasn’t helping much in this situation, but he’d deal with it. In a way, it helped him have the guts to do things he normally couldn’t do on his own, so he was thankful for that.

The rooftop was the highest place you could go to at the school, so Akira wasn’t surprised it was off limits, but the door was left unlocked.

He stepped up and noticed tons of leftover desks that weren’t being used. Ryuji sat on top of one, cracking open a soda. “Hey, dude. You brought your cat?”

“Yup.”

“Hello vulgar boy.” Morgana waved at him with a sly smile.

“It’s Ryuji, showoff cat.”

“Thank you, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Morgana groomed himself. “Let’s see his knowledge is **oblivious** at best…” Morgana sighed, disappointed. “I expected better, but that’s a low even for you…”

“HEY!” Ryuji screeched. “Shut your damn mouth!”

“Make me!” Morgana yelled, raising a clawed paw.

“Calm down you two, he’s going to be your partner eventually, so at least try to work together on this.” Akira reasoned, cutting in the middle of their almost existent battle.

“Alright, alright…” Morgana reluctantly agreed. “His guts is at a high **dauntless** level. Proficiency is **bumbling** , his kindness is **considerate** , and his charm is **existent**.”

“So, what he needs to work on the most is his knowledge, charm, and proficiency, but his kindness can be improved upon regularly, along with his guts.”

“Yup, you both should get some **guts** from going on the rooftops when it’s off limits.” Morgana said.

“Yeah, I can def’nitely do that on my own. Maybe that’s why it’s so high.”

“That’s good, so what are we going to do after school?”

“I dunno, maybe study together for a bit? Go eat somewhere, because that little bread ain’t gonna do it for you.”

“I know…”

“How about we try studying while eating to try to increase our proficiency?”

“We could try that, though I don’t know what the result will be…”

“As long as we get some points from it, I don’t mind.”

“Alright. We can do that after school.”

“Let me take you to my favorite ramen place in in Ogikubo. Show you the good stuff!”

“Alright,” Akira smiled.

“Don’t forget me too!” Morgana said.

“Fine, I’ll try and sneak you somethin’.”

“Get me some _real_ good food! Like sushi!”

“I don’t got that kinda money!”

“Then get a job, then we can go for the real good stuff.”

“We can’t get cocky. Right now, we have to do with what we have.” Akira interrupted.

“Understood, Joker.”

“And also, I’ve decided my name in the real world would be Akira Kurusu.”

”That suits you, I like it,” Ryuji said. 

“Alright, we’ll leave it to you Akira!”

The school bell rang in warning for the next class to begin in a few minutes. They grabbed their stuff and headed back downstairs and back into their classrooms. “See you after school!” Akira waved at him before closing the door.

Everyone noticed he disappeared when school lunch started, he could hear whispers of them wondering where he’d been. But Akira let their minds wander as he made his way back to his seat.

* * *

 

##  **After School**

**Akira Kurusu**

 

 

> **Ramen man > you ready bread boy?**
> 
> **Bread boy >I’m ready if you are ramen man.**

 

“And that’s it for today, tomorrow we’ll start with something really interesting. So I look forward to telling you guys about it. Have a good rest of the day students!” Kawakami waved everyone off as people began to get their bags and clean up their desk as they headed out.

“Kurusu Akira-san?” Kawakami called, gesturing to him. He walked up to her desk.

“Yes, Kawakami-sensei?”

“Are you feeling alright? You look a little pale.” She felt his forehead, but he was cool as a cucumber.

“Yes, I just need a little sun in my diet is all.” He smiled. “Also, be aware of what people might think of you, I know you don’t want to hear that from me, but try to lay low, sticking out is not always good.”

“I understand, Kawakami-sensei.”

“And also try to stay away from-” Kawakami turned her head to the doorway and noticed Ryuji sticking his head through the doorway. “Ryuji. He’ll cause you nothing but trouble.”

“C’mon, Kawakami-sensei, I’m no trouble.”

“You caused the track team to be cancelled.”

“It was that damn Kamoshida’s fault!” Ryuji spat angrily.

“And you blame it all on him, who only wanted the team to go to nationals.”

“You dunno the real story. You prolly wouldn’t know unless you experienced yourself.”

Akira knew the situation was starting to get volatile, so, he quickly began pulling Ryuji out of the room. “Thank you for the concern, but I’ll be going, bye Kawakami-sensei!” He waved her off, pulling Ryuji with him.

“Let’s focus on getting to that ramen place.”

“Fair ‘nough.” Ryuji agreed. The made their way to the train station and headed to Ogikubo.

The train was still packed, but not as much as it was this morning, they both managed to find seats and sat on down as the the train rolled to their next destination.

“The place’ll prolly be packed today, so I ordered a table ahead of schedule.”

“Good thinking, you were quite **proficient,** weren’t you?” Akira asked, with a sly smile.

“Yes I was, my good sir.” Ryuji replied haughtily, trying to sound like a rich snob.

Sure enough, when they got there, a big line had formed.

“Sakamoto Ryuji-san!” The lady at the front of the restaurant called out. “Your table is ready!” They ran to the front of the line and were taken to their seats in a booth. They began pulling out their books to study for a bit.

“Okay, so what class are you confused on?”

“English is my hardest subject at the moment, and japanese. I keep forgetting some of the harder kanji.”

“Okay, I can help you on that. I came here knowing fluent japanese and english. But I still have much to learn.There is a method that might help you. Have you tried the Heisig method?”

Ryuji scratched his head in confusion. “Heisig method?”

“It’s where you memorize kanji by making a story out of it to help you remember it better.”

“Ah, yeah, that def’nitely makes it easier, thanks bro. How’d you learn about that?”

“I wanted to see if I could better my knowledge, so I looked it up online earlier and tried learning by following that method.”

**Akira and Ryuji’s knowledge increased, from learning from one another.**

Just in time, too. Two big bowls of ramen came their way. “Thanks for the food!” Ryuji yelled, grabbing his chopsticks quickly, and started slurping away. Akira, stared at the food, copying what Ryuji said and followed how how he ate his food, but in a calmer manner. He still slurped down most of it, with a fourth of it still left when he couldn’t eat no more. Ryuji found himself getting another bowl.

* * *

 It was almost near to evening when they looked at the time. “Oh shit, the last train for me's gonna leave soon.” Ryuji began gathering all his work up. “Thanks man, we should do this more often."

“Yeah, it was fun. We’ll head back there tomorrow, so be ready after school.”

“Alright, let’s take ‘em down!” They both high-fived each other and went to the station and headed on home.

* * *

##  **Evening**

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

Ryuji Sakamoto lived in a small apartment. While it wasn't much, he was fine with whatever they could afford. The place, while it wasn't the cleanest, it wasn't the messiest either. Things were strung about, like paperwork and some of Ryuji's cup of noodles left lying around. Some would say, they could find the weirdest things in the weirdest of places. His Mom liked to call it organized chaos. Ryuji felt, he could be super comfortable around his Mom, Hikari Sakamoto. She was a hard working lady, but when she came home, that was where she could really be her normal self: A carefree, relaxed person.

When Ryuji got home, he found his Mom making herself a big bowl of Ramen. “Hey, Ryuji. How did things go today at school?” Hikari Sakamoto asked. She was still in her professional attire, hair put in a ponytail. She quickly pulled it out, letting her dark hair flow. “Man, it hurts wearing my hair like that for a while.”

“Why don’t you put it down, Mom? It looks prettier that way.”

She smiled, “I wish, but it looks more professional when I wear my hair up. But I may try that one day, when I’m feelin’ gutsy.” She gestured to the ramen she had left over. “I still have some left if you want some.”

“Thank you!” Ryuji couldn’t resist having another bowl. He always enjoyed having some when his mother could make it. “School went great by the way.” He said, while getting a mouthful of food. “I met a friend and hung out with him today.”

“That’s wonderful!” His mom replied, clapping with glee. “What’s his name?”

“Kurusu Akira-san. He transferred here yesterday, and I showed ‘em around.”

“That’s great. Is he from out of the country, or transferring from a different district?”

“He’s not from around here. I showed him around the place.”

“Took him to your favorite ramen place?” His Mom asked.

“Yeah…” Was it that obvious that he’d already eaten?

“You should invite him over sometime, you guys can hang out, do something fun together.”

“I will, but first I need to find myself a job.”

“Why do you want to get a job, Ryuji?” His mom looked at him, perplexed. “I can take care of things. I just want you to worry more about school. It can get overwhelming with having a job and doing school at the same time.”

“I want to help you out, Mom. You’ve been comin’ home later and later… I don’t want you to be overworked. It ain’t fair for you, ‘specially since we’re finally starting to get both of our lives together finally.”

“Aw… Sweetie…” Ryuji hugged his Mom, he loved her too much to _not_ do this for her.

“Even if you say no, I wanna do it. For you, I want you free, living’ your life the way you want to. ‘Sides, my friend can help me out with school work. I’ll be fine.” He smiled reassuringly. “Now, tell your boss to lay off some hours. You need some time to relax. Love you Mom. I’m gonna hit it tonight. Thanks for the food!” He got up and headed to his room, grabbing his bag. Another day awaited him tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a link to the first story that Raindene wrote for the series: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030705 It's Persona related, so go enjoy some of their stuff too, because they are a great writer who I got to know over the past week. ^.^
> 
> Now we get to see a little bit of what happens off the video game screen by giving others a chance to take the spotlight this chapter! Ryuji Sakamoto gets his time to shine with his mother!
> 
> And Also the Heisig method is a real method that does help with learning kanji, I've been kinda learning from it too, so now you guys know, if you hadn't heard of it already. 
> 
> Here’s a video that explains heisig in a funnier way ( ◠‿◠ ) :https://youtu.be/sspUdoV9Il0 
> 
> Current stats for Akira and Ryuji:  
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Oblivious 13  
> Guts: Dauntless 61  
> Proficiency: Bumbling 7  
> Kindness: Considerate 39  
> Charm: Existent 1
> 
> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 50  
> Guts: Milquetoast 3  
> Proficiency: skilled 42  
> Kindness: Considerate 31  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> 


	5. Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves head back to the Metaverse, and someone realizes their potential.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Chapter! Whew! I will be changing the schedule for the next few weeks. Instead of the 2nd & 4th Thursday of the week I'll be changing it to Friday because I don't have any class on Friday.

Tuesday, April 12, 20XX

## Early Morning

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira woke up to the sound of thunder that morning and his alarm. He wanted to get up early to make himself a bento to take to lunch. He yawned, getting himself dressed and headed downstairs to make his lunch.

Sojiro was already working on some curry when he came downstairs. “You’re up early,” Sojiro commented, while stirring the curry, and adding some spices.

“Yeah, I wanted to make a bento for lunch. They don’t have a cafeteria over there…”

“So they make you bring your own food, huh? That’s a shame…” Sojiro opened one of his upper cabinets and pulled out a red rectangle-shaped container. “You can use my old one,” He said, handing it to Akira.

“Thank you.”

“So, what are planning on making?”

“I don’t really know what I was gonna make for lunch…” Akira replied with an honest chuckle.

“Well, we can get started by making something simple. How about some tamagoyaki with some onigiri?”

“That’ll be fine,” Akira looked around, searching for the ingredients. “Uh… How exactly do I make it?”

“Did your parents ever teach you how to cook?” Sojiro looked at him, disappointed. He sighed, “Let me teach you…”

* * *

By the time they finished making everything, Akira had to head out. He quickly scarfed down some curry and went outside, carrying his bento and umbrella.

Today was another rainy day, Akira remembered to take an umbrella as he headed out for the morning. He turned the sign to open for Sojiro, before heading to the station. More people talked about the psychotic breakdowns as he headed to school. He was starting to get familiar with the route to school already, instinctively following the previous route he took yesterday.

The first class of the day was social studies, his teacher Uchimaru-sensei, was an interesting teacher. (Then again, every teacher had their quirk.). “Hmph…” The teacher pointed at him. “You look like you’ve been spoiled growing up.” Okay, maybe he wasn’t the nicest teacher…

“Before we learn about societies rules, we should start with something simple, like being a basic human being.”

“You there!” He pointed at him once again, making everyone look at him. “The Greek philosopher Plato divided the human soul into three parts. A soul is composed of appetite, spirit, and what else?”

Akira looked at his book and saw the answer. “Logic.” He answered simply, pushing up his glasses.

The teacher clapped, “Correct! So you knew that, huh?”

“Plato’s teacher Socrates, said that evil is born from the ignorance that others refuse to know. Like people who’ve been babied, taught that evil is due to individuality, can only become the lowest of the low.”

“Wow, I didn’t even know that… The new kid seems smart, huh?” The room chattered around him.

“Maybe I should ask him to tutor me…”

“You’d just use that as an excuse. Someone like them obviously isn’t single, I mean look at him! He’s so charming…”

Akira’s cheeks went red.

* * *

 

##  **Lunch**

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira carried his bento upstairs as he headed out of his classroom. Ryuji was already eating away at his food, as he opened his bag again to let Morgana run free. Akira slowly ate at his food. His hands fumbled with the chopsticks he was holding. Ryuji took notice and stopped, going over to help him find the right technique. “You hold it like this,” he showed his hand, holding it the proper way. Akira re-adjusted his hands, he could immediately feel the difference.

“Thanks,” Akira smiled, practicing on his food.

“Least I could do for you, man,” Ryuji replied.

“Hey Morgana,” Akira called, looking over to the cat.

“Yes, Joker?”

“Do you ever get that weird feeling like some of our memory is missing? Like something important we should remember?”

“Sometimes, but Igor said it would come back eventually. Just like those inner demons in the palace, we may not remember some stuff until the time comes or, possibly recruit another member. I personally hope I’m more than just a guide, but a human who just lost their human form, but I’m not sure. Why’d you ask?”

“I’ve been doing good at learning school and everything, but this morning I couldn’t even remember how to make myself food. Sojiro had to teach me.”

“Oh…” Morgana looked at him nervously. “That isn’t right…”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Akira paused. “I think I might need some help with learning regular stuff.”

“I can help you with that,” Ryuji replied, with his mouth full. “I also know another person, but she seems busy with some Kamoshida business at the moment.”

“Who?”

“Takamaki Anne-san.”

“Her? She sits right in front of me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Really!”

“I knew her from middle school. We used to be friends until she moved away for a while. She just came back this year.”

“How did you know she came back?”

“I saw Anne the first day you came to school. I couldn’t miss her long pigtails. S’prised she still wears her hair like that. I thought she woulda changed it.”

Ryuji sat his empty bowl to the side and sighed. “I’m excited to head back in there again.”

“Since you know this Kamoshida guy, how big do you think his palace will be?”

“With an’ ego as big as his, I’m thinkin’ six floors,” Ryuji mused.

“I think it’ll be around 4 floors,” Morgana interrupted. “His enemies inside are low leveled. The higher leveled those enemies are, the bigger the palace.”

“That makes sense,” Ryuji agreed, nodding his head.

The bell rung again, Akira quickly finished off his food, and let Morgana get back in the bag, and headed downstairs, leaving for their separate classrooms.

* * *

 

## After School

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira was about to head out to see Ryuji when he noticed Anne Takamaki talking with Kamoshida. Something about it felt odd… He sat his back to a wall and continued looking at his phone, but listened in to their conversation:

“You looking for a ride home today? It’s been pretty dangerous with all these train accidents lately.”

“Sorry, I have a photo shoot today. I’m doing it for the next special summer issue, and they are counting on me to be present…”

“Take care of yourself, all that hard work can damage yourself, and you're too young to be letting that happen already. You mentioned you haven’t been feeling right. Something about appendicitis?”

“Yeah, I keep planning on getting it checked, but I’ve been busy… Sorry to worry you.”

“Don’t worry. Helping your friend Suzui-san has kept me busy as well. But that’s why I asked you out in the first place too, you’d get to see her more often if we hung out more…”

“...Thank you, but I’ve got to go.”

Kamoshida gritted his teeth and let her walk away, while his forced smile turned into a scowl as she turned away

* * *

“Heya,” Ryuji greeted him, once he left the building. “You ready to head back there?”

Akira nodded. “The sooner we change Kamoshida the better,” he whispered.

He pulled out his phone and began routing from his recent routes. The world began to swirl around them as the world began to shift and change shape, their school no longer resembling what it once was, but a castle.

“So with that app, you can go to the metaverse?” Ryuji asked.

“Yeah, Igor, the guy who I talked about a while back, he gave this to me.”

“Can he give that to me as well?”

“Probably, I’ll have to ask him.”

“Cool. So I noticed last time we were here, there were people locked up in cells and stuff. How come we didn’t rescue them?”

“We didn’t rescue them, because they were just that, thoughts. They looked real and everything, but they were just made by Kamoshida’s mind. What we need to focus on is going and stealing Kamoshida’s desire. It’s what caused him to become like this, to make himself believe that he ruled the school. If we take away his desire it should return him to a decent human being, either that or kill him.”

“Did you say kill him?!” Ryuji looked at him with a worried look.

“Yeah, every person has a desire. If we take it away it might take away their will to live,” Morgana speculated.

“I wanted revenge on Kamoshida, but I didn’t want to kill him! I thought you guys knew what to do to make it harmless or somethin’!”

“I just remember how some mechanics of the Metaverse go, but not everything. Even I don’t know the all the secrets of the Metaverse. Also, remember that my memory is still wacky… It’s like you aren’t even listening…”

“Unless we want him to continue making everyone’s life miserable, we are the only ones that can stop this. The police will side with Kamoshida if we even try to convince the police to trust us. We are just kids to them, and not worthy of being believed in here… That’s just the way it is…”

“Don’t I know it, these rotten adults are just lettin’ him get away with it. If we can find an easier way to make him admit what he did wrong I’d like to take that way. I’ll still try an’ help you guys, I just don’t want to do anythin’ bad like that.”

“That’s alright. I can understand.” Akira patted him on the back, “I shouldn’t have asked that much of you.”

“It’s alright, Akira. I’ll let you guys handle things, and I can be just backup or somethin’.”

Ryuji pulled out a small bat, he was hiding underneath his clothes. Then he opened up his school bag to find what looked to be a gun. “It’s fake, but I just brought it, ‘cause it looked real. I thought maybe we could fool those guards into lettin’ us escape if it looked like we had the advantage.”

“And I also brought some medicine. It might help recover health? I just thought of this place like a video game, so we always gotta have those healin’ items,” Ryuji admitted.

“That’s a good idea. You can actually use that gun in here,” Morgana said as Akira unzipped his bag. “The guards won’t know the difference between a real and fake one, so it’ll actually shoot real bullets here. It’s the metaverse. If you can think it, you can do it, but transformations are limited to special cases like me, and the inner demons that roam the place, along with the bosses of course.”

“That’ll be good. You can back us up in battle if something bad happens. Good job Ryuji, for thinking ahead,” Akira congratulated him.

Ryuji went to his feet and looked through the windows of the castle. Morgana peered through as well. “Looks like there are a lot of enemies on guard,” Morgana said. “It’s probably because you guys caused a scene down underneath the castle a few days ago. Now it’s on alert. We’ll have to be careful and try not to run into a lot of enemies. This is would also be a good time to teach you some stealth tactics, Joker. You’ll need it to get the best advantage over everything.”

Joker gave him a thumbs up. He saw the ventilation shaft from before. Morgana made his way up to the shaft.

“Why are we goin’ through there instead of the front entrance?”

“A proper Phantom Thief always knows to never take the front entrance! We have to be stealthy! That’s basic rule number one of Phantom thievery,” Morgana gloated.

“Gotcha. Crystal.” Ryuji said, not paying attention. He just followed Akira’s lead, ignoring the cat.

They came back to a private room, Ryuji jumped onto the floor, steadying himself. They continued to follow Morgana out of the room and headed to the main entrance. “I remember this!” Ryuji exclaimed. “This is where those guards came and knocked me out when I first came here…” suddenly the whole entire place changed, shifting from the castle to the high school.

“Even if this is a palace, Kamoshida can’t always have a firm hold of his desires. That’s why it changed just now. There should be other places that are weak, we should take advantage of that.”

“Absolutely, we could probably use this a place to hang out or come back to, when we need to get somewhere easier,” Joker said aloud. Just as he was about to speak again he heard to sounds of tons of clanking metal making their way towards the door. They stayed silent, not moving an inch until they could hear it in the distance.

“I wish Kamoshida woulda thought of this place as somethin’ else,” Ryuji muttered angrily.

“What did Kamoshida do that made you so angry?” Morgana asked, perplexed by Ryuji’s hot-headedness.

“He is the reason I had a broken leg a while back, and because I couldn’t be the star track team player, he canceled the track team competition.”

“Wait. He abused you?”

“Yeah. He’s a piece of shit!”

“Please don’t let your emotions get the better of you, let them be a reminder to be great in battle with what you have.”

“I will!” Ryuji pumped his fist in the air triumphantly.

“We should start by finding a way to explore more of the place. Search the place for where his distorted desire is.”

“So what’s it s’posed to look like?”

“It could look like anything. It’s a person's’ desires. For all, we know it could be something I will not mention…” Morgana cringed, disgusted.

“Oh.” Ryuji and Akira both looked at Morgana with wide eyes before changing the subject.

“Let me take a moment to write down everything,” Joker said, pulling out his journal. He jotted down everything he could think of this very moment. The words progress saved began to appear like ink blots making their way to the surface before disappearing.

“What’re you doin’? Ryuji asked, looking at the journal. “Did that Igor guy you’re talkin’ ‘bout a while ago give that to you?”

“Yes, he wanted me to be very successful in being a phantom thief, so he gave me a journal where I could essentially record everything and save it so if anything happens it’ll be like it never happened. Just continue.”

“Man, it really is like a video game…”

“Do games save progress?”

“Yeah man, that’s ‘nessary to continue the hero’s journey. We can’t finish a long game in one sittin’. It takes at least a few days to complete somethin’ like a big game.”

“True. So we should head out soon before even more guards come and swarm the place.” They all nodded, Akira opened the door lightly, taking notice of a group of guards standing in front of the door.

“Still looking for the intruders?” One asked.

“Yes, but I haven’t seen any so far.”

“Better stay on your guard.” They all agreed and headed their separate ways.

“Kamoshida is arming up more guards? Figures.” Morgana mused aloud.

They moved forward and headed down to the doors, where a guard greeted them.

“It’s showtime, Ryuji!” Morgana yelled, readying his sword. The guard transformed into two gallows flowers. Ryuji readied his bat. He took a hard swing on both of them, knocking them hard on the floor, leaving them able to do a big final attack together.

They all high fived each other and continued onwards. “Man, that was so cool!” Ryuji glowed with excitement. As they continued forward, they felt like something was off about the room they were in, as if they felt something wasn’t right.

“You feel that too, Joker?” Morgana asked.

“Definitely. Let’s look around for something. It feels important.” They all nodded. Akira looked around at the prison cells and noticed one of them was left unlocked, he walked through and saw another door. “Bingo.” Akira proclaimed and headed right through. A banner hung above them, it read Kamoshida’s training of love.

“Ugh,” Ryuji shuttered disgusted. “Knew this guy had a fetish or somethin’.”

“We better go on and see if the treasures in here.”

“We won’t know until we look down there.” Morgana lead the way through, leading them out to another block of prison cells. Only this one held captive the volleyball team from Syujin.

“What are they all doin’ here?” Ryuji asked. They were lined up at the volleyball court getting slashed by Kamoshida’s guards, facing strikes one after another, crying in pain, but just standing there, taking it.

“Don’t you remember? They aren’t real, only cognitions made by Kamoshida.”

“They still are getting hurt, though!” Ryuji gestured to them.

“Outside of this world they are likely being beat up by him in real life too,” Morgana admitted.

“But that’s why we are all here. To stop that from continuing.”

“Don’t help us it’ll only make this worse.” One of the volleyball team members cried. “We deserved this, so let us suffer!”

“No, you didn’t! Why aren’t you blamin’ Kamoshida?!” Ryuji yelled angrily.

“It’s not like you didn’t do anything either. Now the track team is taking all your blame too. So don’t come and say things when you aren’t even following by example as well!”

“Ryuji?...” The knuckles of his hands went white. He didn’t know how long he clenched his fists for. “Ryuji!” Akira yelled at him, grabbing his shoulders. “Take some time to calm down. You’re worrying me…” Hearing his smooth voice made him feel calmer.

Ryuji took some deep breaths. “I’m sorry man, thanks for lookin’ out for me.”

Akira comforted him. “It’s alright to get angry. It’s natural to react like that, anyone would.”

“I know, but you told me to not let my emotions get the better of me, an’ I’m already breakin’ that rule…” Ryuji tried to give a reassuring smile but failed. “I wanna try to get some pictures of these guys so I can ask ‘em when we get back.” Ryuji popped out his phone and went to his camera app, but it wouldn’t open. “Stupid phone won’t open to camera… Try yours.”

Akira tried opening his camera, but no dice. “Same with mine.”

“Then let me try to memorize these guys. Maybe I can talk with ‘em tomorrow after school.” Ryuji looked into the first prison room. The volleyball team was now running an endless game where the had to try to get to the volleyball. If they weren’t able to keep up, they’d die a brutal spiked death. One of them cried for water. “Not givin’ athletes water is a real thing in the real world too…” Ryuji sighed. “Mkay, check the next one.”

The next one had a volleyball player hung upside down, while a cannon shot balls at his neck, lurched in pain.  He got a good look at the volleyball players face before he was shot at again. “Okay done!”

“Good. I think we should head back home for today. We did a little bit of exploring, but this is just the first piece of a big puzzle we need to go on making.”

“Alright. Let’s head on home.” Ryuji agreed.

“Gladly. Follow me!” Morgana yelled. And they did, following him back to the entrance, but not before some guards blocked their path. They separated to reveal Kamoshida.

“Looks like we have some peasants gracing themselves here. I’m the only one who gets to do that.” Kamoshida looked at them menacingly.

“The school ain’t your fuckin’ castle!” Ryuji yelled. “Those volleyball players will confess what you’ve done once we’ve talked to ‘em!”

“All talk and no cigar, like always Ryuji Sakamoto. The star runner has fallen down to even lower standards than before.”

“What are you tryin’ to say?!”

“I’m saying that you ended the dreams of many of your track teammates. You were the one who caused all of it, now other teams will suffer because of your lack of respect for others.” He smiled like the world finally leveled for him.”

It pained Ryuji to hear those words again. “You have no right to say that when you were essentially committing your selfish act!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Kamoshida ignored Ryuji’s words. They. Meant. Nothing. “Now you’ve teamed up with more gullible people that’ll be dragged down because of you. Guards. Take out the trash. I don’t need this useless garbage,” and left the guards to do the talking.

This time the air felt coarse, strong magic was at work. Golden guardsmen stood proudly, leading the other two guards to head into battle. “Ryuji, I can sense these guys are stronger. We’ll try and take it from here!” Joker guarded Ryuji, standing in front of him. Dark black horses guarded their way. They had Morgana and Akira surrounded.

“Akira, try eiga! Find their weakness!” Morgana commanded He unleashed his magic, but the spell hardly did any damage. “Dammit, he resists it!”

“Let me try Garu!” He unleashed a strong wind to the horse. Still not strong enough. “There’s even more of them coming! We’re outmatched here!” Both of them felt they were definitely strong than the average enemy. The dark horse lunged at Morgana. “AH!” One-hit critical, then Akira, another critical.

Kamoshida sneered at them and stepped on Morgana’s back squishing him down. “You piece of-” He pushed down harder.

“I bet you only came here because you wanted revenge. Isn’t that right?”

“No…” Ryuji lied, his throat starting to seize up.

“How worthless are you showing that kind of weak emotion? Real men never cry, and yet you tried to ruin me? How dare you! Don’t you remember me letting you supervise the track team?”

“It wasn’t practice! It was physical abuse, and you didn’t want our team to succeed!”

“Your team couldn’t do anything well. Only I was able to whip them back into shape with real practice! The coach before couldn’t do any better either… If he hadn’t opposed me, maybe then the track team wouldn’t have broken your leg for me, and you would’ve gladly accepted my special training.”

“What?”

“Do you want me to break your leg too? The school will always side with me anyway…”

“Dammit. Am I ever going to get anything right?” Ryuji cried, falling down to his knees. “Not only did I lose my ability to run, but also lose everything 'cause of you…”

“So that’s why…”Morgana realized, letting the sadness hang in his voice.

“Once you two are killed off I want my chance to take down this one once and for all.”

“Don’t let him talk you down like that!” Akira called out to him.

“You’re right…”Ryuji realized, getting to his feet. “Everything you’ve taken from is somethin’ I’ll never get back!”

“You’re hopeless, believing that you can stand up to me. These friends of yours will die for nothing because they sided with someone as useless as you.”

“No... I’m sick of your lies!” Ryuji growled. “All you care about is using people from what you want, treating them like things to be used and thrown away. The real scumbag is you Kamoshida!” Ryuji stepped towards him, raising his fist.

“What are you doing?! Guards! Silence him!” He commanded, showing a voice of weakness.

Ryuji pointed at him, “I’m sick an’ tired of you lookin’ at me like I’m fucking nothing!”

“You’ve made me wait quite a while…” A voice rung in Ryuji’s head. Suddenly, Ryuji felt like he had the worst headache imaginable. He tumbled onto the floor, putting pressure on his head. **_“You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact. You should hoist your flag of rebellion and wear it proudly. The “other you” who wishes to change the past wishes it thus…”_ ** Ryuji flailed on the floor, as the pain in his head got worse. **_“I am thou, thou art I… Once you go, there is no turning back. The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!”_ ** The pain in his head stopped, he could feel something on his face, he tried prying it off, only to feel it tug tight on, as if it were super-glued to him. The golden guard looked at him, non-fazed.

“Hmph, what can you do?” The guard wondered aloud. “Just cower in fear and watch!” The guard raised his weapon, expecting nothing to come of Ryuji. He pulled himself up, still trying to pull off his mask. Once he could feel it start to come off the immense pain poured from him, crimson staining his face as he was engulfed in bright blue flames.

The guards scattered everywhere, immense power surged from Ryuji. Morgana and Akira got to their feet, watching Ryuji look back at them, as the flames died down with a smile that radiated pure confidence. He took a moment to look at his outfit, he was wearing a biker gang looking outfit. “Aw man! Wassup Persona!” He greeted his Persona standing on a ship behind him, it was Captain Kidd, one of his favorite stories he loved reading about when he was a kid. How fitting. “This effin’ rocks! Now I’m ready to give some payback. Get ready Kamoshida, ‘cause I’m bringin’ it!” Ryuji pointed at him.

“Let’s bring it!” Morgana and Akira yelled simultaneously, giving Ryuji a high five.

“Don’t mock me you brat!” The golden guard called out as he transformed into a horse riding guardsman.

Ryuji singled him out, pointing at him. “Blast him away Captain Kidd!”

“Peasants like you that mess with Kamoshida mess with me!”

“Fine by me, I’d rather fight like a rebel than die like a coward! Let’s take ‘em down, everyone!” Ryuji yelled. The guard huffed, before summoning some dark horses. “Maybe you guys don’t like lightnin’, so here comes the thunder!” Ryuji roared, before sending a lightning bolt to one of the horned horses. He knocked both of them down. “So, they’re weak to electricity attacks. Keep at it Ryuji!” He sent one last strike back to the guardsmen. He lost a lot of health, but not enough to take him out of the battle. He let the others go at it again, going towards the guardsmen. Ryuji repeated his electricity attack, getting rid of both of the lower leveled horse. The horse riding guardsman was all that was left. They sent their all their attack on him, ending the battle once and for all.

“How could I have lost?” he cried.

“Kamoshida isn’t anyone I’d route for, he ain’t nothin’ special,” Ryuji said before he turned to dust. Once the battle was over, he felt weak. “Man, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck…” He took a moment to compose himself. “How ‘bout that? Now would be the time to apologize, but even if you cry or beg I ain’t forgivin’ you.”

“You think you can still gloat while this is still my territory? Aren’t you a thick-skulled one…” A blonde haired girl wearing a bikini appeared beside him.

“T- Takamaki-san?” Ryuji looked as wide-eyed as Akira.

“Lovely!” Morgana yelled, with glee. “Such a beautiful and Meow-velous lady!”

“What the heck is goin’ on?” Ryuji asked cluelessly. Kamoshida caressed Takamaki-san’s face, and she relished in Kamoshida’s glory with every single move. “Let go of her, you sick perv! Keep your hands off her!”

“This place is my domain. I can do whatever I want and people will wish they could be loved by me! That is until you all showed your faces.”

“Ryuji, that’s just a cognition made by Kamoshida… She’s not really here, it’s the same as those slaves!”

“Jealous? I’m not surprised if you are, no one would ever go for a piece of trash like you guys. You’re all problematic.” Kamoshida waved moved his hand in front of him, creating more guards. “Get them!” He commanded.

“I think it’s time to run!” Morgana swerved around the guards and made way for the exit, with Akira and Ryuji delayed, behind him.

“I couldn’t agree more!” Akira agreed, quickening his pace.

They ran back to the real world as soon as they could, they stood in an alleyway a few feet across from the school building. Ryuji put a hand on Akira’s shoulder to help steady himself. He huffed heavily. “We could’ve taken them down, though. You got me here.”

“I know. I just didn’t want to risk the chance of us dying.” Morgana said, taking a breather as well, finding his voice muffled in his Syujin bag.

“Anyway, so now I have a persona. Is that what you meant when you said it’ll come when you need it most?”

“Yup, and it works out for us as well, we got a new Persona user!” Akira bro-hugged him.

“Hell yeah, Kamoshida ain’t gonna keep us down now.” Ryuji smiled with a pure smile, “But are you guys kinda tired? I feel wiped out, man.”

“You did awaken your Persona for the first time. Joker was born from the Metaverse, so he’s used to it, but even I’ll admit I’m a little tuckered out.” The muffled bag spoke again.

“It’s not just you guys. I feel a little bit sluggish…” Akira admitted.

”I guess we’ll all head home for the night,” Morgana spoke for Akira.

“Will you help me look for those volleyball players tomorrow? I wanna see if they’ll talk at all ‘bout Kamoshida.”

“Sure, I’ll help you out tomorrow.” Akira smiled.

“Thanks, man. I owe ya one! How ‘bout we grab some grub at the ramen place again?”

“Sure.”

* * *

 "So, how come it’s still like only an hour that’s past since school ended?” Ryuji asked, as they just got settled, sitting down. "It wasn't like that last time."

“You went in by yourself. If you had someone who was a part of the Metaverse, time would move slower. That's an advantage Metaverse users have.”

“Ah. I got ya. So, is Kamoshida gonna ‘member what we did in there?”

“No. He shouldn’t. That’s the suppressed side of himself. Anything that happens in there, is something he shouldn’t remember.”

“Whew! That’s a relief, I thought he would tell someone.”

“You have nothing to worry about, but tomorrow we’ll go and see if those players will talk at all.”

“I hope so.”

“I wanted to ask something since we’ve got back. What did Kamoshida mean by special training?”

Ryuji laughed forcefully. Uh… It was nothin’, just him spewin’ shit is all.” Ryuji looked at him nervously. “Tomorrow’s the stupid volleyball rally, luckily ‘cause of that, we have no classes tomorrow. It’ll help us go unnoticed. We can work it out some more tomorrow.”

“Now c’mon, eat some more, you need energy for tomorrow. This ginger will taste good on it!” Ryuji stacked some of it on top of his ramen. Akira just looked at his plate. He saw him stack more on top. He felt like he was looking into the ramen dimension...

Afterward, they did some homework.

* * *

##  **Evening**

**Anne Takamaki**

Out in the courtyard, Anne sat underneath the covering, sitting beside her best friend Suzui Shiho-san. Practice just ended a few minutes ago, as they sat at their usual spot. Shiho, grunted as she plopped onto the bench, besides Anne, looking exhausted. Anne could feel that something wasn’t right. Shiho looked down at the floor, not saying a word. “Are you feeling alright, Shiho? Please tell me, what’s wrong?”

“I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately. My mind won’t relax. I keep thinking too much and I haven’t been able to sleep until 2 am for the past few days…”

“Shiho…” Anne grabbed Shiho’s hands. “Is it the nationals?”

“Yeah, I’m just wondering why someone like me should be training to get on the starting line up… Can I really do it?”

“Of course you can! You’re the best at school! Don’t be discouraged! You know you work the hardest, it’s only natural for you to be recognized.”

Shiho solemnly nodded. “Yeah, volleyball is the one thing I’m the best at… It’s all I have…”

“More importantly, should we get that leg propped up? It looks swollen…”

“It’s normal. I’m just working hard to keep myself in shape for the big competition… Especially since another meetup is coming…”

“Shiho…” Anne was about to say something when another one of her teammates came up to her.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Suzui-san, but Kamoshida-sensei asked me to get you…” The boy stood in front of them, not meeting their face.

“What does Kamoshida-sensei want with me?”

“He wants to give you some ‘special training’.”

The girl looked at him with a pained expression. “Ann, I…” She gripped Ann’s arm.

“It’s alright,” Ann said, sounding glum. “We’ll meet up tomorrow?”

“Yes. Please…”

Shiho got up. “Well. I’ll see you tomorrow…”She walked alongside the boy and walked off, slowly, grunting quietly with every step.

“Everything will be alright, Shiho…” Anne tried to smile, waving her off, but even she could feel that something wasn’t right. She just wished she knew what it was.

* * *

##  **Evening**

**Akira Kurusu**

Cafe Leblanc had an unexpected visitor. A young man with brownish orange hair sat at the counter, drinking the blue mountain special. “The acidity level in here is very complex and well balanced. I’m glad Nijima Sae-san recommended me this place.”

“You know Nijima Sae-san?”

“Yes, I do, she and I work together on cases from time to time in the agency.” The boy turned around to look at him. “Why hello there, are you here for a late night coffee break?”

“He lives here, I just run the place,” Sojiro admitted.

“My name is Kurusu Akira-san, and you are?”

“Akechi Goro-san, but you can just call me Akechi. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Akira smiled, with Akechi almost mirroring his movements. “So, you go to Shujin?” He pointed at his shirt.

“Yes, I just started a yesterday. I transferred from out of Tokyo. What school are you going to?”

“I’m in a special program with the agency. I work and go to school over there. Do mind if I ask you a question? I’m surveying how people think of the agency so far?”

“Sure, ask away.”

“How do you think the police force is with cooperating with all the train mishaps that have been going on lately?”

“They didn’t get there soon enough. Tons of people died because of it.”

“I can see why you’d infer it as that way. That’s an honest way to put it. We are currently investigating if it’s more than just accidents. I may have a hunch that it is. There has been more than one occasion that has happened and it’s very suspicious.”

“With how many accidents that have been happening, it’s no wonder you believe that there’s more to it. I can tell that too.”

“Interesting. Have you ever thought of working with the police?” Akechi inquired.

“Nah, I don’t think the police would want people like me. Your more fit for the job, and I have school to worry about.”

“Ah, I see. I like your honesty, hearing another side of the conversation is very interesting for me. I often have trouble seeing the other side of things. In a way, you helped me realize I need to work on that somewhat. Can I contact you again if I need you?” Akira nodded. Akechi pulled out his phone and they exchanged numbers.

 **_“I am thou… thou art I… Thou hast established a new bond. With the birth of the Justice persona, your tether to the world grows stronger..._ ** _“_

Akira felt the surge of power come from him.

“Thank you,” he smiled again, getting his last sip of the coffee, before gently setting it back down on the plate. Akechi got up, paid for the bill and headed on home.

“That was the detective prince you heard from the news,” Sojiro explained. “I didn’t expect him to come here, but it seems like he likes the place.”

“That’s one new customer.”

“Yeah,” Sojiro agreed. “It feels nice.”

“I guess I better get ready for bed, I’m beat.”

“I’ll lock the place on my way out, you have a good night.”

“You too!” Akira called, halfway up the stairs. Akira sat his bag down and pulled out the journal again, writing down what happened. 

Morgana looked at his journal, "Who was visiting downstairs?"

"Goro Akechi. He and I made a social link with one another, it was weird..."

"Yeah, we don't even know a thing about the guy, I guess he was really open to friendship?"

"Maybe, just keep in contact with him, he could be useful."

"I will, it kinda feels weird though, like I feel stronger in a way?"

"You made a social link with him. As Igor said, the more people you connect with, the stronger you'll be. You even look a little bit healthier."

"He did say that," Akira agreed. 

"You did a lot today. You should get to bed already, you still have to help Ryuji with the Volleyball team."

"I know, I know..."

"Good night, Joker."

"Night Morgana."

Akira still wondered a lot of things that night, Akechi's social link felt familiar... Then Akira remembered something... A date: September 15th.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter Ryuji and Akira will see if they can get any evidence against Kamoshida. The date is important for someone...
> 
> Phantom Thieves stats:
> 
> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 53  
> Guts: Milquetoast 5  
> Proficiency: skilled 42  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> Kindness: Considerate 32  
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Oblivious 15  
> Guts: Dauntless 61  
> Proficiency: Decent 8 Level Up!  
> Charm: Existent 1  
> Kindness: Considerate 39


	6. Volleyball Investigations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's volleyball, ending with no questions, but something happens, that makes Akira realize that there's something going on that's more sinister than they originally thought...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the chapter! Please let me know what I can do to make things better, it helps with becoming a better writer. :3 
> 
> Also thank you so much for the 1000 hits! I never thought that that many people would be able to come in such a short time, so thank you so much!

# Volleyball Investigations

**April 13, 20XX**

## Early Morning

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira tried to make sense of the date he remembered last night but came up with no answers. That date… It felt important. Akira didn’t know how or why, but he wrote it down in one of his notebooks and stuffed it into his bag as he headed downstairs to make his lunch.

Morgana disappeared when he woke up this morning. Had he possible remembered something as well? He couldn’t worry about it now, right now his mind focused on following how Sojiro showed him how to make it yesterday. Again, all the utensils felt foreign, holding them in his hands as he scrambled an egg. Sojiro would turn his head, and watch him every few minutes, making sure, he didn’t mess up. “Those ingredients didn’t come cheap, you know,” he scolded Akira his first time, burning one of the eggs.

He'd remember to keep an eye on his food better, that's for sure.

* * *

 

“Okay class, today’s the volleyball tournament, so get dressed up!” Kawakami-sensei clapped, startling them all from their desks. They headed all down to the locker rooms and got dressed in their gym uniforms. Akira had one made for him, just in case he was able to join back in gym. It was best anyways, he didn’t want to be the only one still in his uniform, that’d just make him stand out even more. They all headed for the gym, letting the volleyball team take stage, along with the teachers. Once Akira could find Ryuji in the crowd of red gym uniforms, he made his way over to him, sitting down on the floor. “Y’know this is gonna be a one-sided game, right?”

“Yeah…” Akira sat back for a little bit, taking a nap. A ball flew towards him, he dodged it, before it nearly hit him in the face before he looked back out to the game again.

“Whoa, he dodged that even in his sleep…” The girls swooned.

“What’d I miss?” Akira asked, confused.

“Your charm is showin’,” Ryuji scoffed, having a big grin on his face.

Akira played with his hair, nervously. “Even when I try to hang low, the world keeps throwing missile straight at me.”

“It’s prolly cause you came here with basically max charm, there’s no such thing as layin’ low, when it comes to that.”

“Yeah, I should’ve realized that…” Akira chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

They both watched the game for a bit. It seemed as if the student team wasn’t really giving it their all today. They seemed super sluggish and slow at best, losing every single time. Getting spiked by Kamoshida. One of the students stepped back, and looked at Kamoshida as he readied a shot right at him, spiking him in the face. The whole entire room gasped. The student fell to the floor, unmoving. Kamoshida ran over to him, “Someone call the nurse!” He called out, a student ran to his side and helped him carry the student out of the gym to the nurse's office.

“Alright everyone, you guys can go get your bags on go on home today,” Kawakami-sensei announced. Everyone got up and went to the locker rooms to change back.

* * *

## After School

**Akira Kurusu**

Ryuji waited for him outside the locker rooms once he finished. They headed up to the rooftop, where they could talk without the unnecessary noise of people heading on home. “Kamoshida makes me sick!” Ryuji yelled, kicking one of the desks. “He made everyone think he was the hero or somethin’.”

“Did you notice anything before that? Like how the kid was almost planning for him to get hit?” Akira asked.

“I just thought he was moving back ‘cause he didn’t want to get spiked.”

“No, I think the kid did that purposefully, so it could look like he was a hero.”

“That just even more sick! The students should be defyin’ him or somethin’! Not let him do what he wants!” Ryuji clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. Akira comforted him, “I know, I know…” He calmed down, taking some deep breaths. “I just wished that people would act d’ffrently. Do somethin’ about their own situation.”

“Sometimes people don’t know how,” Akira said, simply.

“Yeah, I need to worry about what we are gonna do. It’s just I keep seein’ it every day and it angers me. It makes me feel like no one cares about anyone. If they get hurt, or if they suffer at all.”

“Anyways,” Ryuji changed the subject. “I want to see if I can get some info from the students. Maybe we can resolve this, by getting the students to talk about him. I’d rather do that than kill anyone. No offense.” Ryuji gestured, meaning no harm.

“None taken. I understand,” Akira gave him a reassuring smile.

“I know that there was a volleyball team member in your class, we should split up and see if we can get any kind of info from them.”

“Is there anyone else that you can think of?”

“Not at the moment, but I’ll text ya if anything comes up.”

They both nodded and set off to look for some volleyball players. Akira knew he could easily spot them, people were all back in their uniforms now, while the volleyball team was likely to stay after school for practice. They’d still have those red, standout uniforms. Akira opened the classroom door, people were talking to friends, just hanging out in the classroom for a bit. The volleyball player was up at the front of the classroom, drawing out a math problem on the board, trying to figure it out for himself.

“Excuse me,” Akira interrupted. “Sorry for the intrusion, but I couldn’t help but notice you’re having trouble with math?”

“Yeah, not my best subject,” the player admitted. Akira wanted to ease into the question, as to not overwhelm him, that’d be bad if he set him off so easily. The kid turned around, his right cheek was bandaged.

“Are you alright?” Akira asked.

“Yeah, I just got that at practice. I wasn’t looking.” The student wouldn’t meet his eyes, just looking at the floor.

“You sure?” He asked again. “I heard that the gym teacher was secretly abusing students, is that true?” Akira whispered into his ear. The student finally met his eyes, but he looked frightened for a moment.

“It’s nothing!” He yelled, storming out of the room. The students looked at him, maybe he was too forceful.

 

 

 

> Akira: The guy ran out on me as soon as I tried to ask him.
> 
> Ryuji: dammit the same thing happened to you too...  no one wants to talk bout it
> 
> Akira: So what should we do now?
> 
> Ryuji: we gotta keep tryin. try to see if anyone mentions anything important like names, info or something.
> 
> Akira: Got it.

 

 _Maybe there would be more people downstairs,_ Akira thought. He followed his instinct and looked around on the first floor. Another player was standing outside one of the rooms, talking with his other teammate. Both of them were bandaged up as well. “I’m not ready to go back there yet…” One of them spoke.

Akira looked at his phone again and walked by them slowly. “We gotta head back there soon, Kamoshida’s gonna be pissed.”

“Yeah, he’ll get Mishima to dig some dirt up on us, I wanna be able to be a leader eventually…”

The two headed off. He didn’t even need to talk to him. This would be good evidence to give to Ryuji.

 

 

 

> Akira: I got a name. Meet me at the courtyard.
> 
> Ryuji: sweet. meet you there.

 

“So you heard Mishima-san ?” Ryuji asked, after he told all the information he could gather.

“Yeah, they said he would dig up some dirt if they didn’t head to practice. I’m guessing he’s one of Kamoshida followers.”

“I think he might’ve been the guy who got hit earlier…”

“Then he’s probably still in the nurse office.”

“Let’s go over there and see.” Akira started towards the nurse’s but was confronted by Anne.

“What do you need to talk to Mishima-san about?” She asked, coming from the corner. Akira turned his head to see Anne Takamaki, waiting for his response with a puzzled look on her face.

“We just want to talk to him about his volleyball coach,” Akira explained simply.

“What are you planning on doing to Kamoshida?”

“It’s rude to butt into people's lives, Anne-san,” Ryuji glowered at her.

“I wasn’t butting in!” Anne said, her voice tinged with annoyance. “I was coming to talk to Kurusu Akira-san. You aren’t exactly a quiet person Ryuji-san.”

“Whatever you wanted to say, he doesn’t want to talk to you if you snoop in like that. C’mon Akira, let’s go.”

He walked past her ignoring her blackened expression.

“Let’s see if Mishima is doing any better. Maybe he’s out of the nurse's office.” Akira was one step ahead of him. He saw the door open, with Mishima’s bruised face in full view. Kamoshida had spiked him hard.

“Excuse me!” Akira waved at him, Mishima looked away, trying to ignore them. “Can I ask you some questions?” Akira asked, pulling out a notepad and pen.

“I don’t feel like talking right now. I think I’m going to go back to practice.”

“But why? You have an injury. You don’t want it to get more inflamed, do you?”

“No, but practice is important to me, and I just gotta suck it up.” Mishima slumped his shoulders and started heading in the gyms direction, but Akira wasn’t going to have it.

He grabbed Mishima's shoulders, ushering him to go the entrance.

“What are you doing, forcing a student to go home?” A familiar voice asked.

“This guy needs to rest, don’t you see he can barely even see?” He lied, moving his hand in front of Mishima’s face. “He needs to go on home. I was happy enough to help him get to the train station”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to cover for me,” he whispered into Akira’s ear.

“I think he has some practice he’d like to get back to if you don’t mind,” he smiled with a smile so forced, that he looked like he was about to break some of his teeth. He put his arm around Mishima, rubbing his shoulder as they walked to the gym.

“Kamoshida’s got everyone around his little finger,” Ryuji growled. “Even if he snitches on people, it seems like he’s still the same as the rest of ‘em….”

“Yeah, let me save this, before we head on home for the day. Akira pulled out his journal a scribbled down everything he could, before putting it back in his bag.

Suddenly his phone vibrated, and he saw the “Detective Prince” had messaged him.

 

 

 

> DetectivePrince: Sorry to intrude on your nice afternoon, but I just finished a case for the evening and wondered if you’d like to talk some more over some dinner?
> 
> Akira: Sure, I’m just heading home.
> 
> DetectivePrince: That’ll be perfect, I’ll pick you up from there.
> 
> Akira: See you then.

* * *

## Evening

**Akira Kurusu**

“Akechi invited me to talk with him about some stuff over dinner. I’ll be leaving soon.” Akira announced as soon as he entered Leblanc.

“Seems like you’ve already got yourself a friend. Here,” Sojiro handed him an extra set of keys. “I’ll let you lock up the place for tonight, just take care of yourself out there.”

“I will, but until then, I think I’ll read something for a bit.” Akira pulled a magazine from the magazine rack and flipped through it, reading about one of the popular destinations in Japan. Sojiro headed out for the night.

Akira wondered, where he headed off to after he closed Leblanc. Did he go home or head out somewhere, Akira didn’t know. He never asked. He understood whatever Sojiro did was his business, but since he let him stay at Leblanc he thought it was only natural for Sojiro to warm up to him eventually, but he still felt distant. More than that, he felt like an enigma.

Akira heard the door jingle, Akechi stood, looking composed and professional as always. “Ready to head to the station?” He asked.

Akira’s chair creaked as he got up. “Ready when you are, what place would you prefer to go to? I’m in the mood for some pancakes, myself.” Akechi put his hand on his chest, gesturing to himself.

“Pancakes sound good.”

“Then let me take you to one of my places, the original pancake house. Have you had any before?”

“Nope, haven’t ever really tried anything, but I’m open to widening my food palate.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Akira and Akechi walked together. “It’s in the Musashino district, it’ll be awhile before we get there. So, until then tell me about yourself. I’m interested to hear about you as a person. It gives me more insight into how you think.” His eyes peaked, with curiosity.

“Well, I’d say I’m just a regular person, I just transferred here a few days ago, and I haven’t ever been to a place as populated at Japan.”

“Ah, you used to live in the countryside? I hear it’s very peaceful out there.”

“It is,” Akira lied, giving him a pure innocent smile.

“I’ve noticed that you feel like the police could do better with their jobs. How do you come to think that?”

“When you think about it, police aren’t really worried about the stuff that goes unnoticed. Small things like tiny crimes happen all over the city, yet no one is able to get them all. While I understand that not everyone can get all the criminals, small crimes like that could always have footprints left at the scene of the crime. If you can find out who it is, why not try to go for the source and try to stop it before more continue?” All of this blurted out of his mouth, without a moment's notice.

“You sound like me. I tend to go off topic a lot when I talk about something I’m interested in. We are like that in the same way in that regards.” He took a moment to get a good close look at Akira, being inches from his face. “If we were brothers, I’d say you’re my ying to my yang. We look like each other.”

“Yeah, we do. Isn’t that weird?”

“A little. Maybe that’s why I feel like I can confide in you a little bit more than others.” He backed away, realizing he was being a little bit too intense on Akira. People were giving him the eyes. “I’m sorry.” He moved away, with a saddened look on his face. When people left they sat on the seats. Akira moved closer to him, and held Akechi’s hand. His face went red, blushing. Akira could feel his school bag move. “T-thank you…” Akechi tried to say, sounding composed, but failed miserably. When they got to the place, Akira went to the bathroom and sat in one of the closed stalls, unzipping morgana.

“Uh… I don’t know what to do here!” Akira panicked, shaking his hands, worried.

“What did you do?!” Morgana asked, looking wide-eyed.

“Uh... I held the detective's hand and he blushed.” Akira tried to explain calmly.

“You basically told him you were interested in him, and he accepted.”

“I DID?!?! I was just trying to comfort him, not try to do that, while he is handsome… I-”

“Man, if that’s your preference. I hope Ryuji doesn’t know about this…”

“I didn’t even know I had a preference or anything!!! I don’t know a thing about relationships or stuff like that! How do I tell him that I was just trying to comfort him without telling him I-”

“May be interested in him?” Morgana interrupted with a smug look on his face. “No. I’m not interested in him. I want to be his friend more than anything. He seems lonely like he only works with adults.”

“Yeah. You need to tell him that you’re sorry you played with his emotions, and most of all, you’d like to be his friend.”

“Alright. I’ll tell him that.” Akira nodded, confidently.

“I’d be careful around him though. He seems too friendly.”

“I will.” He headed back out, closing the bag slightly.

“I’m sorry if I played with your emotions. I didn’t mean to be that forward. More than anything I want us to be friends.” Akira said immediately after returning to the table.

“That’s perfectly fine.” Akechi’s smile was almost sickeningly sweet. “That gave me a little information about you. Enough to know that you are the one I need to get rid of.” Akechi pulled out his gun, and aimed it straight for Akira’s head.

“W-WHOA!” Akira gasped, losing his balance in the seat. He was caught off guard. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!?”

“Getting rid of someone who is pursuing justice. You were the easiest target to find. I realized what you were the minute you talked about yourself.”

Akechi cocked his gun and a loud shot echoed through the air, with screams filling the place. He looked at Akira with a wry, almost demonic smile before he started walking away, almost in an arrogant stride, flaunting from the scene.

Morgana nuzzled their way out of the bag and looked around, immediately seeing Akira’s limp body on the floor.

The game was over, before it had even begun.

 **Game Over**.

* * *

 

## After School

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira clenched his chest, feeling his heart beat so fast. He was heaving over, his hands fumbling for something to keep his standing up. “Akira, you alright, man?” Ryuji asked, holding him up. “I just witnessed having myself killed after school today.” Ryuji looked at him wide-eyed, his face filled with worry. He ushered him onto a bench to sit down and talk about this. “W-what?!” Ryuji gasped. “We haven’t even left yet. What are you talkin’ about?”

His phone vibrated, and he pulled out his phone to show him. “This guy is the one who kills me after school. A journal that Igor gave me brought me back to my last save, which was a few minutes ago.”

“I’m probably the only one to remember it, but the time alone over there was enough to scare me. He shot a bullet right through my head, and he almost relished in watching me fall to the floor.” Akira was totally freaked out about the situation as a whole.

Now he understood why Ryuji was hesitating to fight. Maybe he didn’t want to get himself killed. Ryuji tried to calm him down, looking at the messages the Detective Prince was sending him. He begun typing away for him, and sent it. “I told him you were busy tonight. You’re staying at a friends place.”

“But that’s a lie.”

“No it isn’t. I’m not lettin’ you go home like a scared kitten. You’re staying the night at my place. Hopefully Sojiro and Goro Akechi will understand.”

“How do you know Goro Akechi?”

“I sometimes catch him over the news. He goes by that on TV.”

“Oh.”

“I knew that sickenin’ly sweet attitude was fake. That guy has some straight up blood-lust man.”

Akira called Sojiro and cleared up everything. He said it was fine that he could stay over at a friends place. Just make sure he comes home the next day. The two got up and headed to the train station.

* * *

## Evening

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

Ryuji just couldn’t leave him to go home like that. He saw when he looked into his eyes, Akira was truly terrified that that could happen again. He had never seen Akira like that. He seemed to radiate confidence and everything a Phantom Thief would be, but maybe he was just as human as Ryuji. His mother was startled, once she saw Akira step foot into the apartment. “Is this your friend you were talking about?” She asked, gesturing to him.

“Yeah, he got startled by something, so I invited him to stay the night.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you Kurusu Akira-san.” She smiled, giving him a hug. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I’m a hugger.”

“It’s fine, Sakamoto-san.” He smiled. “Hugs are always comforting, and more needed here. More people bow, often than give a handshake. I’m glad that you are one of those exceptions.”

“Well thank you Kurusu-san. Would you guys like anything to eat? I can get you something if you’d like.”

“I think we’ll have some ramen tonight, but for now I guess we can study?” Ryuji asked, eyeing Akira.

“I’ll make you some, you guys can worry about school, I’ll make some for you guys.”

“Thank you Sakamoto-san,” Akira thanked her. She waved it off like it was nothing. “I don’t mind doing it at all, besides, you’ve been helping out Ryuji so much with his grades and all. I just received his weekly grade report. Thanks to you, he’s been getting one grade higher.”

“Weekly report? I don’t get those…”

“They only send weekly reports to the ones they are worried about. With how things are going, I think I won’t be seeing these ever again after a few months. I never worried about Ryuji’s grades. To me, what is most important is who someone becomes. Never think of someone as just a letter grade.” She crumpled up the report and threw it away. “I’m thankful that you’re able to help Ryuji understand things more clearly. Feel free to come over anytime, Akira-san.”

“Thank you Sakamoto-san.” Akira’s cheeks flushed, he was embarrassed by the many compliments.

“Call me Hikari-san. Whoever is a friend of Ryuji’s is a friend of mine.” She began pulling out all her supplies and got to work, while they studied up. “Man, I hate pre-cal. I can’t understand a dang thing about these numbers…” Akira took a moment to look at the problem, even he was confused, but he looked at the example his book gave, and tried to follow it. “I think it goes like this…” Akira made an example, and showed him how to work it out, step by step.

After doing a few practice problem, Ryuji felt, he knew how to work them out better, and so did Akira. “Thanks Akira.” Ryuji smiled.

“Now, you two, get comfy, the ramen will be ready when you get back.”

“Alright, alright. We’ll get comfy Mom.” Akira followed Ryuji into his bedroom, handing him some spare Pajama’s. Akira noticed a lot of pirate decorations were hanging on his walls, a pirate flag, hoisted onto the right wall of his bed, a pirate hat sitting above his dresser. “Your Persona really reflects you doesn’t he?" 

“I used to read little short stories about pirates, when I was little, so yeah Cap’n Kidd was one of those stories.”

Akira put on the baggy pajama set, it felt weird, seeing these clothes on him, he was wearing a red “No Mo’ Rules” shirt with some comfy black shorts. Ryuji resided to wear his normal “ZOMG!” t-shirt with black shorts.

“Thanks for letting me borrow this, I’ll clean them up and return them to you when I can.”

“It’s fine man, you don’t have to hurry or anythin’. I got other clothes I can wear in the meantime.”

“Ryuji opened his door and ramen was sitting on their table when they returned. “Thanks for the food Mom.” Ryuji gave his Mom another hug.

“Thank you for the food, Hikari-san.” They all sat at the table, slurping away at their food, Akira found himself enjoying it the most. It was even better than at the restaurant they went to a few days ago.

They headed to bed. Ryuji blew up an air mattress and spread it beside his bed, giving him a blanket to settle in for the night. Morgana pawed open the door, noticing them both talking to each other. “So are we still going to try and get some evidence tomorrow?” Akira asked, scooching farther beneath the covers as the fan was blowing.

“Yeah, we still gotta try something.”

“One thing's for sure, I’m gonna make sure to save whenever I can, that reset progress thing startles me more than anything.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine witnessin’ my own death like that. I don’t even ‘member you going home or anythin’. Do you ‘member it, Morgana?”

“No. I don’t remember anything like that at all. You’ve got to watch out for that Akechi guy. Don’t let him get close to you.”

“He told me that same thing before he shot me.”

“That worries me. Why would he want to kill you?”

“He said that he didn’t want me spreading justice, and ruining his plans.”

“Sounds like he knows about the Metaverse. We’ve definitely got to keep an eye on him, he could possibly be another Persona user. I don’t think he wants the same thing as we do. This is not good.”

They all tried to go to sleep that night, but Akira still couldn’t help but think of other things as well. Akechi, and how his hands seemed to go for his almost instinctively. Could he possibly be in love with guys?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be on hiatus for a little bit. I have some big tests I need to concentrate on, for the most part. But I'll be back afterward.
> 
> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 55  
> Guts: Bold 6 Level up!  
> Proficiency: Skilled 44  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> Kindness: Considerate 34  
> 
> 
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Oblivious 17  
> Guts: Dauntless 61  
> Proficiency: Decent 8  
> Charm: Existent 1  
> Kindness: Considerate 41  
> 


	7. The Rumors That Spread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumors spread and people become closer as they find out Kamoshida has been blackmailing Anne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I'll be starting school again soon, but it's not as bad as before. I'm going to try to start posting a chapter every week. If I can't get it done in a week it'll come a few days later.

# Thursday, April 14, 20XX

**Akira Kurusu**

## Early Morning

Ryuji’s alarm woke him up in the morning, going off to the same song he set his to in the morning. Their phones went off in unison, and they began laughing. “Same taste in favorite song, huh?”

“That’s just the perfect song to wake me up in the morning. Where’d you find a soundtrack like this, anyway Ryuji?”

“It was just a soundtrack I’d stumbled upon online when I was just browsin’ for stuff to listen to. Pretty good find, if I do say so myself.” Ryuji gave a cocky smile and got dressed, along with Akira as the soundtrack played in the background.

Ryuji headed to the living room, noticing two bento boxes on the table, along with a note. “Here’s a nice lunch for you guys! Have a great day at school!” -❤️ Mom

Ryuji smiled and gave Akira his bento. “Aw. That was sweet of her,” Akira complimented her.

“Yeah, she’s great. Usually, she’d always do that, but her job has been over-workin’ her too much. So when she wakes up, she always gets ready for work and doesn’t have time to make any bentos. I told her I’d get a job, so that she can finally relax, and go back to writing.”

“She likes to write?”

“Yeah, she was writing a novel.”

“I hope that works out for her.”

“I hope so too.”

All Akira hopes of having a good day were dashed as the second he came into the school when people started whispering rumors.

Rumors are something that someone can easily believe. Lured in by the chance that they might be real, their minds would be riddled by false pretenses that may or may not be true. For Akira, it was two words: Criminal Record. With a rumor like that spreading around about him, all his charm melted away, and like Ryuji, Akira was labeled as an outcast.

Who would spread a terrible rumor about him? No one knew, but that made Akira feel like all his charm meant nothing.

He sulked a bit in his chair as Anne ignored him, she was probably still angry about yesterday and how Ryuji lashed out at her. He couldn’t blame her, he wished he could get up the courage to apologize before class started, but everyone was whispering about his supposed criminal record.

Today felt like the longest day ever. Everything felt like it couldn’t move fast enough. Akira was eager to just get out of there and hang out with Ryuji at lunch. At least with him, he felt more comfortable. In class it felt like everything he did, he did wrong. Was this what Ryuji felt every day? No wonder he didn’t like school. 

* * *

 

## Lunch

**Akira Kurusu**

“Everyone’s been talking about you today. I know it’s nothin’ but lies, but who would spread somethin’ like that about you?” Ryuji asked.

“I have a feeling it’s one of Kamoshida’s followers.”

“That would prolly be it.” 

“Was it because we confronted Kamoshida a bit yesterday?”

“That may be it, but Kamoshida always tries to ruin someone’s reputation that he doesn’t like. He did that with me.”

“Yeah, he said you used to be the start runner in the track team.”

“I used to be, but now I can’t run as good, because my leg has problems ever since it got broken. I get tons of cramps but I’m eating fine… ish.”

“Don’t tell me, you're on a ramen diet…”

“Maybe…?” Ryuji shrugged. There was probably an emergency instant ramen bowl in his bag right now…

“So, I’m thinking about asking Suzuki Shiloh-san some questions after school today. You think she’ll admit what he’s doing?” He asked. 

“I don’t think so… He has a tight grip on the volleyball team...” Akira sulked.

“You feelin’ alright Akira? You look paler than usual.”

“Having people spread rumors about me affects my hold on the world. Even something small as rumors can affect me. Right now it’s making me feel all negative about the situation.”

“You gotta hold this out, man. We’re gonna go back to the palace if this doesn’t work out. Just try to stay positive in this.” 

Akira pulled out his bento and ate for the rest of the time they spent on the roof. His mother's cooking was something to help cheer him up.

* * *

 

## After School

**Akira Kurusu**

While heading to the next train station, Akira spotted the blonde pigtails of Anne as he was about to head to his next station.

He stopped for a moment, noticing Anne talking on the phone. “Don’t you dare bring Shiho-chan into this!” She yelled, stomping her foot. “Will you please give it a rest? I-I’m not up to something like that…” She looked worried. “And you call yourself a teacher!” She slammed her phone into her backpack, bursting into tears. “Shi-san… Your big moments gone… All because of me and my stupid mouth…” Akira couldn’t help but go and try to cheer her up, but she backed away, frightened, by his sudden intrusion. “You were spying on me,” she growled, trying to wipe the tears off.

“No.” Akira immediately shook his head. “I was just headed to the next train station and saw you looking upset. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Anne wiped away her tears. “What did you hear?”

“Shiho, a teacher. Anyone could see that you were feeling distressed.”

“Well, thank you for your concern, but I can do this on my own.” Anne tried to muster a confident look but failed to make a dent in Akira’s defenses.

“You sure? I know if my teacher was blackmailing me, I’d like to have someone to back me up.”

Anne looked at him, surprised by how kind he was. “Yeah, you’re right,” Anne admitted. “Let’s go somewhere,” Anne begun walking down the stairs to a lower floor and headed out to a cafe located near the train station.

They sat down at a booth. Anne still looked like she had a lot on her mind. She couldn’t even look at him directly.

“Kamoshida’s been trying to ask me out lately,” Anne admitted. “For the longest time, he’s been trying to do this. I keep making up excuses, mostly because I’m not interested in him. I’m already in a relationship with someone else…” Anne twisted her hair and blushed. “However, he knows that now and has been blackmailing my g-“ Anne hesitated for a moment, before mentioning, “Girlfriend.”

However, Akira was already open to the idea, understanding her hesitation to tell someone they hardly knew. ”He’s been threatening to take her off the lead position if I don’t go out with him.”

“Poor Suzui Shiho-san. She doesn’t deserve that.”

She was on the brink of tears when she heard Akira mention Shiho. She looked like she deeply cared about her. “No, she doesn’t deserve it, but Kamoshida rules that sorry excuse of a school, and it makes me feel like I can’t do anything about it.”

Akira did his best to comfort her. “Thank you. It’s nice to see there’s a nice person at the school.”

“What about Ryuji?” Akira asked.

“I haven’t talked with Ryuji in a long time. He’s changed so much, last time I saw him was in middle school and he had black hair back then. He probably thinks I’m still same old, same old. I haven’t even changed my hairstyle,” She smiled at the thought of him seeing her again. “Still, I’d like to get back on better terms with him. We were good friends, and clearly, he trusts you a lot.”

“He does. We’ve kinda banded together during lunch.”

“I don’t blame you, most of the time, the student makes me feel alienated. I always try to go and see Shiho-san during that time.” Whenever she’d mention her, a smile would form on her face.

“Why don’t you come to the rooftop and bring Shiho. I’m sure she’d like to get away during lunch.”

“That’d be nice. I’ll take you up on that offer. Speaking of which, the other day when I wanted to talk to you, I was hearing rumors you guys were planning on doing something to Kamoshida.”

“It’s not like that at all,” Akira scoffed. “Ryuji and I were trying to see if Kamoshida was abusing the students, trying to get evidence against him, but even the students are keeping quiet about it.”

“If he’s doing that, then that makes me even more worried about Shiho... I can’t believe he’s doing that to her…” Akira handed her a napkin, noticing her starting to tear up. “I-I feel like such a terrible girlfriend for not even noticing the signs… I was just worried about her getting to play the lead, and thought she just hurt herself, working hard at volleyball.”

Akira looked at her, seeing the determination in her face. She could have the potential as well, he certainly felt she had something. “Alright. Meet us up on the rooftop after school tomorrow. You _can_ do something about Kamoshida.”

“I can? What is it?”

“It’s something very unique.”

“Okay… You’re still being kinda being _way_ too secretive about this…”

“You’ll see when I show you after school. Just trust me on this. Will you help us?” Akira held out his hand and they agreed.

“Alright…” Anne hesitantly shook his hand, forming a bond between them.

**I am thou… Thou art I, thou hast established a new bond, with the Lovers Persona, your strength to this world grows even stronger...**

“What was that weird feeling I got after hand-shaking you?” Anne cocked her head, puzzled.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about right now,” Akira brushed it off, giving a smirk.

“Hey, you look a little healthier, did you get a tan or something? Last time you came to class you looked like a ghost.”

“I guess helping you out made me feel better.” He gave her an assured smile.

“Thank you for being so understanding about everything. There’s something about you that makes you so easy to talk to,” Anne admitted with a kindhearted smile.

“I’m sorry for telling you about my current situation. You’ve got enough on your plate too.” Anne sulked a bit.

“It’s alright, I already consider you a friend.”

“I’ll tell Shiho to quit the volleyball team. I want her out of there as soon as possible.” She began texting rapidly on her phone. “There.” She announces once she’s finished, sending it out. “Tomorrow should be a better day.”

“I hope so, you guys take care.”

“Thank you, I should invite her over tonight for some time together, but the last train for home is going to be leaving soon…”

“Oh yeah,” Akira got up from his seat. “Mine is too.”

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow then. Hopefully, Shiho got my message,” Anne smiled and waved to Akira as she headed out, while Akira raced to the last train of the day.

* * *

  **Shiho Suzui**

Shiho slugged to her locker room after a long hard day of practicing. Today Kamoshida was hard on everyone, especially her. She was relieved to finally get her bag and go on home. Her body ached beyond belief, but someone was waiting for her outside. It was Mishima, one of the newest members of the team. He was notorious for being Kamoshida’s errand boy, also running the schools social feed. He was just as battered as she was, once she saw him, he started making a beeline towards her. “Shiho-san?” He called to her, waving at her, almost like a friend. They suffered together, but Shiho would never call him a friend.

“Kamoshida wants to see you, he’s in the faculty office.”

Shiho was shocked, wide-eyed, her face gone completely white. “Okay.” She said, with all emotion drained from her voice. "I don't think I can do this anymore..." She admitted. "I'm tired, my body is done. I can't go back in there."

"You can take it. The Nationals are only a few more days away. If you quit now, you"ll lose the lead."

How could he be so cruel? Did no one care about her feelings? Mishima started leading her to the faculty office, seeing her break down and start crying. He ignored it. They would all suffer together, whether they wanted to or not.

* * *

 

## Evening

**Anne Takamaki**

Anne came home semi-relieved, face-planting into her bed. She checked her phone, noticing no response from her sweet Shi-chan. Maybe it didn’t send properly. She tried to resend the message.

She figured she’d let her be, have some time to herself. Anne pulled out her textbooks and worked on some problems. Math wasn’t always her best subject. She was barely passing at the moment. Nothing seemed to stick until today. She found that math was starting to get easier after looking through the problems again.

Still, she enjoyed doing English the most. She found languages to be the most interesting, considering she went from country to country. Anne wanted to treasure the place she liked the most. Tokyo was filled with shopping districts, unique desserts to try, and most of all, be able to play some video games early. Having learned Japanese was the best thing that happened to her. She wanted to return here, after having flown halfway around the world and back. She was sick of not being able to finish school at the same place. This year she wanted to settle down and actually finish a year in the same place.

But this meant that she’d be all alone in her house, while maids and other cleaners would come and cook, or help her out with homework, she mostly felt like she was all alone, but she got used to it, enjoying the sweet silence while she worked on homework. Once she was done for the night, she took a sweet slice of chocolate cake she made and ate it while playing some video games late into the night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those important moments, like Shiho's depression, is important to me. I want to make sure that it's represented in a true and honest way. If there's any way I could improve on them to make them more impactful, please let me know, because topics such as suicide are important.
> 
> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 51  
> Guts: Bold 6 Level up!  
> Proficiency: Skilled 44  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> Kindness: Considerate 34  
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Oblivious 17  
> Guts: Dauntless 61  
> Proficiency: Decent 8  
> Charm: Existent 1  
> Kindness: Considerate 41  
> Anne:  
> Knowledge: Learned 56  
> Guts: 5  
> Proficiency: Decent 26  
> Charm: Head-turning 43  
> Kindness: Empathetic 58


	8. A Panther Sharpens Her Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne finds her inner strength to avenge Shiho by going into the Metaverse.

## Friday, April 15, 20XX

## Early Morning

“Hey, you don’t look so good today…” a student said, looking at his friend.

“Yeah, I’ve been feeling nauseous lately.”

“You know you can have that new clinic nurse in Yongen check you out, right?”

“The one that prescribes homemade remedies?”

“Yeah, that one. They are guaranteed to work.”

“That sounds good. I think I’ll stop there sometime after school today…”

Morgana’s ears perked up, poking his head out of the bag, “That sounds like something we could use, maybe we could check out this clinic and see what kinds of stuff they can provide.” Morgana suggested.

“Yeah, maybe it can help us recover health in the metaverse.”

“Now, you’re talkin’!”

* * *

**Akira Kurusu**

In the classroom, he still felt pressured, but at least now, he had someone that was willing to help him after school. Anne smiled at him, as the school continued like normal. They were focusing on history when a student started looking out on the school balcony.

“Sensei?” the student asked, standing up. “There's someone on the rooftop!” They ran out of the room to see if their suspicion was correct. “It’s S-Suzui Shiho-san!”

“Shi-chan!” Anne gasped and started running outside. Akira followed her, confirming his own suspicions as well.

Anne had no time to spare whatsoever, she started running for the courtyard. He followed her, trying to keep up with her as good as he could and that’s when he heard the students start screaming as she let go of the rooftop, plummeting downwards.

When he got to Shiho, a big crowd had already formed, an ambulance was just making its way towards the school. Anne was holding Shiho, noticing her broken leg. “I’m so sorry… “Anne cried. “I just wanted you to be able to be in lead. I shouldn’t have pushed you to do something you didn’t want!”

“I’m sorry for being so weak Anne. I just couldn’t take it anymore.” Anne leaned closer to Shiho and whispered something into her ear.

“You’re not like that! You’re honest, and that’s why I fell in love with you in the first place!” She hugged her, holding her hand.

The paramedics pulled up, putting Shiho on a stretcher. “Someone needs to go with her.”

“I’ll go!” Anne stood up, immediately heading into the ambulance.

Ryuji appeared a few seconds later, watching the ambulance pull away. “Kamoshida had something to do with this, that really was Shiho that they took,” Akira told him, immediately as he stood beside him.

“Dammit!” Ryuji cursed, looking at the spot where Shiho fell.

The school principal stepped forward, ushering everyone to head back to their classrooms. They saw Mishima start to run away quickly. Akira was one step ahead of Ryuji following him into the gym locker rooms.

“Why did you run away so quickly? Have somethin’ to do with Shiho?!” Ryuji banged his fist at the lockers. “Answer me!”

“K-Kamoshida asked me to get Shiho yesterday!” Mishima confessed, shielding his face.

“Why did he wanna see Shiho?!”

“He was in a bad mood yesterday. Even more so than usual, then he asked for me to get Shiho to head to the faculty office yesterday…”

Ryuji stared at him, white as a ghost. “Do you have any idea what you put her through?! You sent her to be raped by that asshole!”

“I’m sorry!” Mishima cried, pleading to Ryuji. “I should’ve stopped her but I didn’t. I knew it was wrong and I continued to let it happen…”

“You didn’t stop her. That was the problem!” Ryuji was outraged, ready to punch Mishima, but Akira grabbed his fist as he raised it. Mishima winced, already shielding himself. “Why did you stop me?!”

He turned to look at Akira. “Don’t let your actions get the best of you. What we need to do now is confront Kamoshida about this.”

“Yeah, you’re right, let’s go.” He took off, heading to the faculty office.

“What the hell did you do to her?!” Ryuji yelled as his foot kicked open the door.

“You know what I did to her, Ryuji. You of all people should know _exactly_ what I did to her.” He smiled at him with an arrogant grin. “It was her fault. She was the one standing between me and Anne. We could’ve had it good if Shiho didn’t get in the way.”

“Her preference wasn’t yours. She liked girls,” Akira said.

“A person can always change their mind. Isn’t that right, Ryuji? Your friend thought he liked girls, but after we had some special training, he liked it. Oh, he moaned like he enjoyed it.”

“I was in a bad position at the time! And you have no right to tell anyone what went on here!”

“Oh? And you do? You think because you’re a victim you have rights? Not in my book. It shows what a coward you truly are, just like everyone else.”

“What you did to Shiho was no excuse,” Mishima announced, stepping into the room.

“Another coward,” Kamoshida waved him off, paying him no mind.

“I’m done with being your stupid errand boy, I can only imagine what she went through. But more than anything, she’s in the hospital because of you.”

“I don’t care,” Kamoshida scoffed.

“I’m willing to testify against you,” Mishima threatened.

“Your star witness is in a coma, and if you testify, you’ll likely gain the same punishment as me. You’re just as guilty, you brought her here yesterday. No one would believe you anyway.”

Ryuji and Akira looked at Mishima with an intense glare.

Mishima realized this, just as he was speaking. “I will back up these two though.” He stood in the middle of Ryuji and Akira, looking defiant.

“Fine then, you’re all going to be expelled. For threatening a teacher at the next board meeting I’ll make sure you never walk on this campus again. So don’t even think about studying. That won’t get you anywhere when the next meeting comes around.” He returned to his faculty chair, focusing on his work. “Now get out of my sight!” He shooed them off.

* * *

 

## Lunch

**Akira Kurusu**

The classroom felt stuffy, like all the happiness left with Shiho. Akira looked at his bag and noticed Morgana had disappeared, probably when he went to follow Anne. At lunch she was back in the classroom, her face dejected. Even with all of this depressing atmosphere, Akira took it upon himself to try to cheer her up, bringing her up to the rooftop. She didn’t need that constraining atmosphere after what just happened. “So what are you guys planning up here?”

“You told her about our plan?” Ryuji asked, seeming surprised.

“Not yet, but she does have the potential. I feel it, I just need Morgana to confirm it.” He unzipped his bag and let out Morgana, stretching his legs.

“Do your stuff, Morgana.”

“Oh I can feel it a mile away,” he purred. “She’s beautiful too…”

“She’s into girls,” he whispered to him, already seeing he was falling in love with those puppy cat eyes.

“Oh…” Morgana scowled… Akira patted his head lightly. “Don’t you dare tell me about the fish in another sea crap…” That was exactly what he was going to say, but he kept his mouth shut, smiling at him like a moron and inching away from him slowly.

“Should we show her?” They both nodded, standing up. Akira started punching in his recent routes from his phone. “Starting coordinates.” It announced, and the world started changing.

They appeared in their phantom thieves outfits, all except Anne, who was confused by everything. “What happened to the school?!” Anne shrieked. “We were just on the rooftop a few seconds ago, and now I’m who knows where?! Are you guys even human? This is so unreal!”

“I’m normal,” Ryuji pointed to himself. “Akira came from this place. It’s called the Metaverse.”

She saw Morgana appear from behind Akira. “Hello, Lady Anne, it’s a pleasure for you to be on the team.” He greeted, sounding like a gentleman. “I’m a guide for Akira, to help him become known around the world as the best phantom thief. He’s done well so far.”

“Oh my god, a talking monster cat. Now I’m really going crazy.” She squirmed, moving away from Morgana.

“Now he can change shape here in the Metaverse. He was the cat you saw earlier from my bag.”

“So what are you then? Some weird amalgamation or something?”

I’m supposed to only be a cognition. As in, I was only supposed to exist here in the Metaverse. Ryuji is what made me real. The bond that you agreed to when we shook hands made me stronger as a real person in your world.”

“This is all so crazy! And I can’t believe you took advantage of me!” Anne growled, frustrated at him.

“I didn’t take advantage of you. You want to take down Kamoshida, you can do so in here.”

“How?!” She pointed at the castle. “This looks nothing like Kamoshida!”

“Kamoshida’s desire is in that building. If we find it, we can take away his desire to punish the students here, then that should end his reign.”

“Oh. It’s still kinda confusing, but if it stops Kamoshida. I want to do some payback, myself. Alright. I’m in.” Anne nodded, assuredly, looking at the castle looming above them. “So what’s the deal with the costumes?” She pointed at them, clearly looking unamused. “They could use some work. While you do look good in red, I wish more would’ve been used to bring out this sense of rebellion I’m feeling from you guys.” She realized she said too much. “Sorry, being in the modeling business has kinda made me a critic of outfits.”

“That’s alright. It’s just what I was wearing in the Metaverse. You’ll eventually get an outfit when you get your Persona.”

“Persona? Okay, now I’m confused again.”

“It’s a manifestation of a part of yourself. In this dimension, we can use personas as our power to stop the enemies that lie in the floors of the castle. Think of it as a video game. We take down those enemies to grow and gain experience. Right here is a safe place. The enemies shouldn’t come out here.”

“That’s a little bit easier to understand, but how am I going to defend myself?! I don’t have this Persona power thing you’re talking about.”

“We’ll try to avoid enemies for now, but we’ll head back and do this after school. Do you still want to do this?”

“Of course I want to do this! Kamoshida deserves to pay for what he’s done to Shiho!” Akira ended his route, returning to the real world. They haven’t been gone for a long time after all.

“So we’re gonna head back up here after school We’ll head over to Kamoshida’s palace to make some leeway today.”

“Good. I’m ready to deal with that sick bastard.” Anne had a face of pure determination. Then her phone went off, she checked it, noticing a new icon had appeared. “What’s this?” She showed them the Metaverse Icon blaring red on her phone.

“That’s to enter into the Metaverse. It appeared on Ryuji’s after he went in as well.”

“So I can go in on my own?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Going into the Metaverse without a teammate would be just reckless thinking. Always have a buddy or someone with you.” Morgana pointed out, talking on the floor.

“It’s weird to see a talking cat. It kinda reminds me of an anime I watched. To see it in real person feels like it’s a fantasy coming into real life.”

“After a successful day, we should go and eat something. Afterward, do you wanna head to the diner on central street to eat for a bit?” Anne asked.

“Sure, we can always go for a meal,” Akira agreed.

“It’ll be my treat as a way for thanking you guys. So earlier you talked about a bond. How does that make you stronger?”

“I’m not a real person, so I have to have someone tied to me to help me stay healthy and strong. Ryuji helps by studying and improving himself. Every little thing he does helps me. If we do it together it helps both of us.”

“So after school, we should eat and study? Is that why I was able to do math a little bit easier yesterday night? I’m usually never good at math.”

“Yes, having a bond with me can help you improve on subjects at school.”

“That’s nice. What can I do in return for helping you?”

“Just help us take down Kamoshida, then afterward, you can continue to help us or not, you have the choice.”

“Thank you, I’m excited to get out there and give him a piece of my mind.”

* * *

## After School

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira rushed upstairs as soon as class ended. Anne was right behind him, “You ready?” She smiled, amusingly.

“Yup, I’m sure you are.”

“You bet I am! I’m not gonna let just you guys do all the work. Give me a weapon. Don’t just leave me defenseless!” Anne remarked, taking Akira’s bag. She pulled out a model gun and left Morgana out of the bag. “We’re not supposed to have guns on campus!”

“It’s fake,” Akira said, once he realized Morgana had gone outside last night. “You sneaky cat. Did you go and find a gun in the metaverse after lunch?”

“Yup, there is the occasional gun every once in a while, you just have to look in the right place.” Morgana was proud of himself.

“So, how is this gonna help me in the metaverse, when it’s not even really a real gun?!”

“It’ll work like a real gun in the metaverse. The guards will think of it as the real thing.”

“Oh, mind tricks,” Anne guessed.

“Correct,” Morgana and Akira replied in unison.

“Seems simple enough.” Ryuji walked in, setting down his bag. Anne turned her head towards him. “Lots of homework tonight?”

“Yeah, the teacher just piled it onto us before we left,” Ryuji said begrudgingly.

“We’ll head over to the diner later and all work on our homework together, Akira and I got some to do as well.”

“That’ll be good. We’ll all get some experience together. We should make sure to hang out with each other often, so we can all benefit together.” Anne suggested.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing too, Akira and I have been just goin’ on by. I’m going to be starting my job as soon as I can. I’ll prolly do it in the evenings so I got some time to hang out with you guys, that just means my Mom’s gonna be all alone when she gets home…” Ryuji sighed heavily.

“You know, you should be worrying more about your knowledge Ryuji,” Morgana remarked. “That’ll help you with that homework of yours…”

“I know, cat. I’ve been workin’ on it,” Ryuji lied.

“Your stats say otherwise, Learned 20…”

Ryuji swat at him. “Don’t worry, Ryuji doesn’t live far from me, we can help each other out. He’ll just have to put off his work for a bit,” Anne offered, looking at Ryuji with a smug smile.

“Let’s head on over there. _We_ have a job to do.”

“I forgot to mention we need to call each other by codename,” Morgana started as soon as they entered Kamoshida’s palace. “He’s called Joker,” he pointed to Akira. “But what should we call him and her?...” He mused.

“Since my mask looks like a Skull, why don’t you call me that?” Ryuji asked. “I like the sound of that.”

“Sure,” Morgana agreed.

“For real?! I thought he was gonna object to it or somethin’.”

“I’ll call you Mona, cause that’s easier to say,” Ryuji suggested.

“That’s fine. I’ll take it.” Morgana wasn’t surprised, he already wanted his name to be simpler. With his grades, he was surprised that he wasn’t calling him Mo (モ).

“We’ll have to see what her's turned out to be.” Akira was eager to find out, like Ryuji’s his was a guy from one of the stories he read as a kid, maybe Anne’s might’ve been something along those lines as well.

“Anne-san, was there something you liked as a kid?”

“I went through a phase where I liked dramatic flare, like telenovelas and operas. It’s kinda ridiculous when I look back on it…”

“It’s not at all, this might actually help us kinda see what kind of persona you may get.”

“That’s interesting… So I might get something along those lines?”

“Yup, you should. Just follow us for now.”

They teleported to the closest safe room to the top. They exited and realized that all the guards were nowhere to be seen. “This doesn’t seem right,” Akira pointed out but continued down the hall.

They checked the door leading out but found it to be a dead end. All they could do was look at the steel bars blocking them from checking out the other rooms. Anne put her hand against the steel bars and it started to disintegrate in her hands. Her hands quickly moved away, someone was expecting her.

“Let’s check this place out,” Anne cocked the gun, readying herself as they made the way through a hall of shadowless armor.

They opened the door to see tons of Kamoshida’s cognitions. They were all waiting patiently to have their special training with the King himself. “So nice to see you Anne, I’ve been waiting for you to come back.” He took a moment to look at her again, noticing she was wearing more clothes than he originally saw her in.

“Ugh! I’m not here for you, I’m here to give you a piece of my mind.” She pointed the gun right at his smug little forehead.

“Oh, you’re the real Anne,” he said, unfazed. “I liked my version better.” A cognition of Anne appeared in a bikini sitting on his lap, giving him lustful kisses. “It’s your fault that your friend Shiho tried to kill herself you know. She was the one that took your place, now if you would’ve just came to the faculty office the other day, she would’ve been fine.”

“You don’t have any right to tell me what to do with my relationships,” Anne snapped at him. “I don’t care if you were just having a bad day because of it, but when you hurt _my_ Shiho, all my kindness leaves the door, and I’m not taking a single load of bullshit.” She still held the gun, unwavering.

“Then why haven’t you shot me yet? You can’t do it can you?” He mocked her. Her hand faltered a bit.

“I haven’t taken you down, because if you are dead, then you can’t confess your sins. I want to avenge Shiho, but to do that, we’ll need to find your desires and take them away from you. I want Shiho to see you confess with your own lips. Every single life is precious when you take them away from this world, you ruin their confidence. She’ll never be the same because of you. I will fight for her, fight for every single person you’ve abused, because I am done taking it, and seeing it, now it’s time for me to finally do something!”

A huge migraine of pain suddenly came upon her as the gun clanked to the floor. Guards started appearing in the room. “It’s taken far too long…” A voice spoke in her head, she looked around, searching for the voice. **_“You have a right to defend your sweet Shiho, forgiving this man was never an option for you. Are you going to sit back and let this happen? Release the rebel within yourself and find the strength to avenge her… I am thou, thou are I… We can finally form a contract…”_**

“I hear you Carmen, no more standing in the sidelines. It’s time for me to take action!” Anne felt something was plastered on her face.

 **“** **_I will gladly lend my strength, go forth and fight for her.”_ ** Anne grabbed her mask that formed on her face and ripped it off, becoming engulfed in the light.

They looked back at Anne, noticing her in a black dress, with red trimmings all around it, her mask was a dark black panther with blood red teeth hanging from it. The top of the dress almost seemed to turn into a tail cloak, looking similar to Jokers. She had long gloves with deep red nails to match, along with her long black boots with a stripe on front. She ran up to the guard and snatched it out of his hands, and striking at the copy of herself. She was tired of seeing her dejected to such low standards. "You think you can just toy with people emotions, you scumbag." She could see what a coward he was, his face was white as a ghost, his face sweating in fear.

"Bitch," he scoffed, trying to act tough. 

"You stole everything from Shiho, now it's our turn to return the favor. We will rob you of everything!" They all stepped forward, with Carmen's power flowing behind them. The guards shielded Kamoshida as one of the higher ranking guards stepped forward, to defend his majesty.

The enemy was nothing but a monster sitting on a toilet. "Oh C'mon Kamoshida, even your defenders stink!" She scoffed at the enemy, sending forth fiery flames, he was weak towards him. They sent an all-out attack, slashing the enemy, giving it all they got. Half of his health was already knocked out.

"Why are you defending this scumbag?" Ryuji taunted. "He ain't got nothin' on us." Joker attacked him, destroying his throne, leaving him on the floor. another opportunity for an all-out attack, they took him down within two turns. The phantom thieves high-fived each other on a job well done. 

Kamoshida started to run away, leaving the scene. Anne was about to head after him when she felt the after-affects hit her like a ton of bricks. She winced, feeling some pain as she tried to taunt him some more. The guys held her up, "Why do I feel so weak?"

"We should head back to the diner to relax for a bit, I'm sure you could use a break. We did good." Akira gave her a thumbs up. "I'm sure you'll want to take a break after this. We'll do some more exploring tomorrow." They headed towards the nearest safe room headed out to the real world, going to central street.

* * *

**Akira Kurusu**

"Do you feel better?" Akira asked once they got settled in a booth. 

"Yeah, time must move differently in there, it's only a few minutes after school."

"That's normal. So, how did that feel for the first time?" Akira asked, awaiting his answer.

"I feel like a new person. _That_ was liberating, You need to let me do something for you as a thank you for helping me realize my true self."

"You don't have to do anything, just you being a team member is enough." Akira flapped his hand at her.

She just shook her head, "I'm not taking a no for an answer, you probably, don't even have any of your own clothes do you?"

"I just have some clothes that Sojiro, the guy letting me stay at his place, is using."

"And do they fit right?"

"No... They feel like they were meant for Sojiro..." Akira looked at the floor, not meeting her eyes.

"Exactly! They're more of his style, but this is _you_ , we're talking about. From your first few days at school, I know that you want to stand out. Red is your color, so, let me find you some clothes that really feel like you."

 Anne looked at him with pouty lips and puppy dog eyes, giving in to her wishes. "All right, I'll let the master show me how it's done." She perked up immediately. "Thank you! You will look great, now if only we didn't have to wear these uniforms for 5/6th of the week..."

"I think that's more along the lines of American schools," Morgana chimed in.

"Yeah, I did like it there when I went there for a year, I only had to go for five days a week and I spent even less time in school than I did over here, but I'm glad I get to hang out with you guys. I missed seeing you too Ryuji."

"I missed getting to hang out with you too Anne, maybe we could do that sometime."

"That'd be fun. There are still lots of places I want to go here, like the planetarium, dome town, Harajuku..."

"Planetarium?" Akira cocked his head in confusion. 

"It's learning about the stars and solar system in the sky. I always liked learning about that."

"That sounds interesting. I'd love to go and see that sometime."

"It is, I'll take you some time." Anne smiled at him as the steak she ordered came to her. All of them ordered the nostalgic steak for dinner. Akira pulled out his homework and they all focused on studying while getting a cut of meat every few minutes. 

* * *

## Evening

**Anne Takamaki**

"Don't worry, I'll make sure this guy does some more homework when he gets home." Anne waved at Akira as she boarded onto her next station. Ryuji could not handle her tight grip, having a stronghold on his wrist. "You, need to do this for Akira. Even though I know you like helping your Mom, you need to get your grades up."

"I know, I know..." Ryuji griped, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Just think if you had the knowledge you could stop worrying about homework so much and focus on your Mom. Speaking of which, how is she?"

"She's doin' fine, _he's_ finally out of the picture."

"That's wonderful. I've thought about that a little bit today and realized I never checked up with you since I left. Over the years I thought a lot about you guys, but I never got your number before I left to stay in touch."

"We were in middle school. I thought I'd never see you, but I wanted to come back here, because this place was the longest place I stayed at, and it felt closest to home to me."

"Now we can do it together as buddies," Ryuji gave her a genuine smile as they headed to Anne's apartment, four floors away from Ryuji's.

Anne helped Ryuji with his English, helping him understand things a little bit better. She noticed he was kinda there but not. “Something on your mind?” She asked, “I can see there’s something.”

”Yeah, during lunch Akira hasn’t always ate as much or really ate at all. It kinda has me worried about him.”

”That isn’t good...”

”I don’t know what’s always goin’ through his head, maybe you’d know?”

”He seems like he’s worrying more about what’s going on with him. You said he’s supposed to be this kind of cognition. Maybe he’s not used to realizing that he’s becoming human and needs to eat. Don’t worry, we’ll get him to eat more, besides, he needs to stay healthy. How about we find some places for him to try new food and see what he likes? Central street would be a good place.”

”Yeah, that’d be good, we’ll go and scout out some places tomorrow.”

It felt like it was going back to old times again, and Anne cherished having someone fun to be with again.

* * *

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira came home as the sun set, as Leblanc just closed. There still was one customer left, savoring their coffee. She was wearing punk clothes, but it seemed to fit her perfectly. She thanked him for the coffee and headed out. "And there goes the last customer for the night," Sojiro said, taking a break. Akira grabbed her coffee and started washing it up. "Thanks."

"So who was that lady?" Akira asked, setting the cup to the side to dry.

"She's the head doctor at the clinic that popped up a few weeks ago. I heard that she gives some crappy examinations and does homemade remedies."

"Hm... Interesting..." Akira pondered.

"You probably should stick to using the stuff that a real doctor gives you. I wouldn't try anything with something as serious as a heart condition." Akira simply nodded, letting Sojiro lock up the place.

"Having a doctor like that would really help us, that's probably the women we heard about earlier this morning. We'll visit her sometime soon," Morgana suggested.

"We always need healing supplies. This would be just an easier way of getting it."

"Yes it would, now we have some planning we need to do tomorrow. So get some rest for tonight."

"What if I want to do homework right now?" Akira asked, giving a cocky response.

"I don't have time for your sass tonight, save it for the Metaverse. You have school tomorrow, so to bed!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr_p9xow6OG6c1xowbz4o2_1280.png This is the picture that inspired me to make Anne a little bit different than her original persona 5 counterpart. Anne in this version is more likely to step forward and seem a little bit more as a stronger person, while a lot of her personality is similar, more of everyone characteristics will be shown. We didn't get to see a lot of personality from all of them. By the time we did, the game was over. Here is the first step towards them being fleshed out a little more! 
> 
> Let me know what I can do to improve my writing, and hopefully, you'll see another chapter next Friday!
> 
> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 54  
> Guts: Bold 7  
> Proficiency: Skilled 44  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> Kindness: Considerate 35
> 
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Learned 20 Level up!  
> Guts: Dauntless 62  
> Proficiency: Decent 8  
> Charm: Existent 1  
> Kindness: Considerate 42
> 
> Anne:  
> Knowledge: Learned 59  
> Guts: Bold 7 Level Up!  
> Proficiency: Decent 25  
> Charm: Head-turning 43  
> Kindness: Empathetic 60


	9. Medicine and Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira needs to eat, and Ryuji has some things on his mind. it's time for friendship bonding with Anne and Ryuji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm changing things back to the regular post 2 times a month. The chapters that need a longer time to come out. Now just wasn't a perfect time to shorten it to 4 times a month. Sorry for the delay.

#  Saturday, April 16, 20XX

**16 days til expulsion**

##  Early Morning

**Akira Kurusu**

For the life of him, he couldn’t concentrate today. There were so many things he thought about that his teacher took notice while his teacher was lecturing his students. “Hey!” he slammed his hand on his desk. “Pay attention!” He threw his piece of chalk at him, Akira narrowly missed it as it dodged his head and hit the window behind him. 

“Whoa! Didn’t he do that at the gym too? He’s so cool!” A student in their class swooned. Anne put her hand behind her underneath her desk to give him a high five, he smirked, slapping her hand.  _ Seriously, did I seem that out of it?  _ He thought to himself as the lecture continued. Now that that they were a team, peoples whispers or secrets didn’t matter to him, at least he had someone to talk to in class.

* * *

 

##  Lunch

**Akira Kurusu**

“So proficiency like that helps you dodge things easier?” Anne asked, immediately at lunch. 

“And avoid enemies easier in the Metaverse.”

“That’s good, Ryuji told me a bit more about the stats to improve myself, so I want to help you out as much as I can.”

“Thank you for doing it, every little bit helps.”

“So lets focus on you. Don’t you need to improve your stats as well?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you been eating anything much to help improve yourself?”

“N-no…” Akira admitted, feeling ashamed of himself. “I haven’t been feeling hungry lately…”

“Unlike Morgana, you are becoming a real person. It’s important for you to stay at your full strength. Now you are going to try some food. Just eat something! Whether it be a tiny snack or something.” She pulled out her bento and gave him some extra chopsticks. “Try some of my food. We’ll share it.” Akira could see she made two of everything, even the dessert. He tried some Makizushi, and a salmon roll, along with two Taiyakis. “How is it?”

Akira finished taking a bite of the makizushi, just tasting the flavors for a minute. “It’s alright.” Akira replied non-fazed. 

Anne tried giving him the salmon roll, “Maybe you’d like something with a little heat?”

He nearly choked on the roll as he felt the burst of heat in his throat, “Whew!” He grabbed Anne water and gulped the last bit of it. “I can’t handle that very well…” He was nearly in a sweat.

Anne was laughing at him, patting his back. “I thought I’d try that to raise my guts for doing something out of the ordinary. Now I’m kinda dreading it….”

“Now you have to suffer with me!” Akira laughed with that smug grin of his, grabbing her piece and holding it out for her to grab it.

“Fine!” She snatched it and tried gulping it down in one bite, but couldn’t bring herself to do it, wincing as she made the most disgusted face, searching for some water, only to realize he had drank it all. Ryuji came in late, sitting down as Anne snatched his water. “I’m not trying that again!” Anne wiped the sweat off her forehead. 

“Dude, you guys look like you went out for a mile jog.”

“I was… Getting him to try some food… we tried the spicy salmon… never again!” She said in between breaths.

“Yeah, I dunno if I handle spicy stuff either. Meats more of my thing.”

“No dessert?” Anne asked. “I love anything chocolate…”

“Nah, but my Mom and I go for ice cream sometimes… I just get a vanilla cone every once and awhile.”

“Aw… That’s sweet!” Anne nibbled on her taiyaki, Akira did the same. He notice a sort of cream came out of hers. “I didn’t know if you had a preference for any filling so I left it plain.”

“What kinds of stuff do people usually have in it?”

“Chocolate, peanut butter, custard, red bean paste, pretty much anything, as long as you like it. Mine is the custard…” 

“There’s sure a lot of things to try here.”

“Yeah, there is! We wanna show you it as much as we can.” 

Anne turned her head to look out at the horizon. Seeing where Shiho was. It made her even more determined to help Akira. “So, we headin’ back to the palace today?” Ryuji asked.

“Actually, I think it would be a good time to upgrade our equipment,” Morgana suggested, waving his paw to get their attention. “Why don’t you guys go look for a place that sells model guns? Akira and I are gonna check out a doctor to get us some healing items for in the metaverse.”

“You think we can convince her?” Akira asked him.

“Have you not seen yourself in the mirror? You can charm her, just act like you normally would, act natural… and lie to get those prescriptions.” Morgana’s eyes shined at the possibility of acting like a true phantom thief in real life. 

“I’m not sure I can do it, wouldn’t that be too rude?” 

“I knew this would happen eventually, but don’t let your kindness stats get in the way of Phantom Thievery!” He yelled at him.

“Sorry,” he apologized.

“Don’t apologize to me! Use your kindness to get that doctor to get you some healing items!”

“Alright,” he nodded.

“That’s the spirit!” Morgana cheered. “So you guys scout out a place for guns and we’ll go over there tomorrow?”

“Sure! We’ll go and check out central street. They have a lot of shops over there.” Anne answered for the both of them. 

She tried keep her composure, but on the inside she was jumping up and down with glee. Central street was her headquarters. She knew the place inside and out. It was a shame that Akira couldn’t come with them, but she understood they had business to do today.

She wanted to check up on Shiho, but only her family was allowed to go in there. Until Shiho came out of her coma, she wasn’t supposed to be there. Anne wished she could be there for her, holding her hand, giving her kisses, just anything to help her world feel balanced again.

* * *

 

##  After School

**Anne Takamaki**

Anne hurried downstairs, grabbing Ryuji as he stood at his usual spot near the stairs. They ran out and headed to central district, leaving Akira to do whatever they were planning on doing. As Anne headed to the train station, she wondered what kinds of places they could cover within the day. Of course, she knew where the airsoft shop was, she’d only noticed it when she was checking out the place with Shiho.

She and Shiho would go and do some shopping together, and get crepes afterwards. Today they were going to look for some food for Akira to try. Maybe they’d find his future favorite food. 

“You think he’d like crepes?” She pointed to the stand, displaying all sorts of sweets.

“I dunno… He doesn’t seem like he likes sweets. But I could be wrong,” Anne mused.

“That’s true, maybe try Big Bang burger?”

“Yeah, heard they were gonna start a big food challenge next month. Maybe Akira could work his magic into gettin’ it early?”

“Yeah, he needs to eat more, couldn’t you see his body kinda wearing down?”

“A little bit. His clothes seem kinda baggy, even for me.”

“Oh yeah, didn’t you go through a phase where you wanted to look like a gangster?”

“It was a phase, and I don’t wanna ‘member it.” Ryuji huffed and turned his nose to the air. Anne laughed at his reaction. “So now you gotta spill me the info.”

“Well, I kinda went through an otaku phase… wearing cosplays from time to time.”

"Oh, so you enjoy doing _that_ kinda stuff. I getcha."

"Hey! I don't do _that_ kind of thing!"

“He could charm anyone with those looks.” Anne looked back at Ryuji, noticing there was this kind of hopeful look in his eyes. “Oh my god you have a crush on him!” Anne covered her mouth with glee.

“I dunno. I don’t even really know if I’m even sure ‘bout it either. I’m still confused about everything…”

“Oh, I didn’t even think that you were still unsure about who you liked. That’s okay, if you want we can talk about it some more when we get to my house?”

Ryuji hesitated for a moment, after having Kamoshida talk about him like that yesterday, he felt ashamed of himself. To be shown as a vulgar boy who liked getting raped by Kamoshida just made him cringe at the idea that he was the one who unconsciously opened his mind to the idea of liking a guy or friend just like him. 

Anne was already feeling like they had been friends for years. She understood him like no one else and also wanted to help Akira too. 

“Yeah,” he admitted. That would be nice to finally get it off his chest, have someone help reaffirm if his feeling were true or not.

* * *

 

**Akira Kurusu**

He stared at the entrance of the clinic, tempted to leave, but at the same time he found he needed to do this. How were they going to survive in the Metaverse if they didn’t have anything to restore their health? He cleared his throat and headed up the stairs.

The place was small. If you walked by it on the street you’d never even realize you passed it, it was that missable. 

Akira was greeted with a small sitting room. With only a few chairs sitting all around the small room, there were magazines, but there wasn’t much. The same lady that came yesterday was sitting at the desk, looking at her phone. “Hello, she greeted. She looked at her clipboard, looking for if anyone made an appointment. “Are you wanting a free examination?”

“Yes,” Akira nodded, trying to act normal. This was just to get some supplies, and help his friends get an easier way of getting what they needed.

“Head to the examination room,” Akira didn’t hesitate to get in there. He sat down on the examination bed as she entered in a few minutes later. She checked out his eyes, shining a light in them, taking his temperature. “Okay, so tell me the real reason your here. Your not sick or anything.”

“I have a bad stomach ache…”

“Alright…” She hesitantly started filling out the prescription. Just as she’s about to give it to him, she sees a glint of cunningness in his eyes. “You have an ulterior motive or something?”

“Yeah,” Akira admits. “I just need something to relieve me of some stress. You know how hard school is…”

“Yeah, everyone has tough days at school. Here, I’ll prescribe some stuff to help you feel more energized, and feeling at full energy.” She makes some corrections in her prescription and gives it to him. “Take care of yourself.” 

Akira paid for the medicine with some of the money he gained from fighting enemies. Surprisingly it transferred over, he had at least 15,000 yen in his pocket. He took what he needed and was about to head out when another guy stormed in and went to the examination room. “I need your miracle drug,” he spoke with a stern voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talkin-”

“The one that performs miracles! That’s able to heal up someone from near death! Give it to me!”

Akira quickly left as soon as he could, heading back home. He did his homework to get his mind off that little scare.

* * *

 

##  Evening

**Akira Kurusu**

He came home to the sweet smell of coffee, he saw Sojiro cleaning up. The cup of his last customer for the day. He ushered for him to go upstairs, however, this night he felt the need to write something. He did go upstairs, but he sat in his bed with the journal at hand. Morgana glimpsed up at him, but didn’t say anything. He curled up next to him, closing his eyes for the night. 

* * *

 

##  Journal

**Akira Kurusu**

There’s been something I’ve been wondering about. Lately, I’ve been feeling more overwhelmed with my emotions, is that normal? Usually I’ve felt more sure of myself, but what is going on with me? 

**_It is normal to feel this as a Cognition. Cognition were made to represent the idea fully, but you are an exceptional case. Connecting with people has made you more human, those emotions are bound to start emerging. Just remember that those emotions are just as important as your duty. Also Morgana has been telling me you haven’t been eating much. Don’t slack off on that! Your body needs nutrients!_ **

Igor?! I thought this was just a means to record progress. I never expected that there was more than just that…

**_I didn’t mean to snoop, I just noticed that your records are starting to be more personal. Are you wanting to start writing a story or something? That can serve as progress as well in the sense that your writing style is a bit on the bland side…_ **

Hey!

**_What I’m saying is: express yourself a bit more! Experiment! Find your voice. I feel like you have the potential to bring something good to the plate. So, I will be eagerly awaiting your progress…_ **

Akira sighed, looking as his progress was saved, and his writing disappeared from the book entirely… If he decided to write a little bit tonight, would it be gone tomorrow? He hoped that he did.

 

His phone pinged. It was Ryuji.

 

> ryuji:I got a place for us to head to tomorrow. How’d your stuff go?
> 
> Akira: We got a place to go for medicine.
> 
> Ryuji: Thanks. Did you get anythin’ to eat?
> 
> Akira: I didn’t… I was thinking more about getting us some medicine…
> 
> Ryuji: Akira… 
> 
> Akira: I know, I know, I’ll go out to the supermarket and get me some chips. 
> 
> Ryuji: Get an instant ramen or somethin’! You probably didn’t eat supper either…
> 
> Akira: Yeah, I my mind was more worried about the homework I had today...
> 
> Ryuji: Akira… Morgana, if you are reading this, make sure he eats!

 

“Roger!” Morgana said, eyeing Akira. “Listen to the guy! Go and eat!”

Akira slowly nodded, heading out to the market to get some food for the night.

* * *

 

**Anne Takamaki**

“How did you know you liked girls?” Ryuji asked once Anne shut her apartment door.

“I kinda found it out a few days after we became friends. I found myself being more attracted to girls, we were good friends, but I was never attracted to you in that way.”

“Yeah, I can see it, kinda lookin’ back on it now. You would hold Shiho’s hand a lot in middle school.”

“Yeah, I felt so comfortable around her, even though she had a kind of brutal honesty. She’d lay it to me straight if my hair was bad, or if my makeup was off.”

“And I didn’t say anythin’, cause I didn’t wanna hurt your feelin’s.”

“Aw! That’s adorable, and very sweet of you.”

“It’s nothin’.”

“So, over time after I left japan I couldn’t get Shiho off my mind. I kept in touch with her, Skyping her whenever I could. That’s when she admitted to me she loved me, holding my hand. And I told her I felt the same way. She told me when I get back to Japan she wanted to be with me. We texted each other from then on, becoming closer even when I was in another country. When I was able to come back we celebrated and went and did karaoke together, singing love songs while kissing. I knew for sure then I really did love her, in that moment I felt like this was what was really in my heart; I still do. I just hope she recovers…” She clasped her hands as if she was wishing for Shiho’s safety. “Now tell me, why is there some hesitation in your feelings?”

“For one thing, I dunno if he feels the same. The way he focuses on the mission shows that that’s what he worries about. He’s even put aside his eatin’ habits. We were the ones that had to focus his attention back to it.”

“Yeah, he was just letting his body deteriorate. We had to do something.”

“Another thing I didn’t bring up was Kamoshida. Akira’s heard bits and pieces of what Kamoshida did, but you and him haven’t heard the full story.”

“Oh no…” Anne could already feel some of the pieces come together. “He didn’t…”

“He did.” All Ryuji could do was nod solemnly. “I’m not proud of it either…”

“That bastard!” Anne yelled. “He’s nothing but an asshole abuser… He hurt you, he hurt Shiho… he was nothing but a pervert messing with everyone…” It pained Ryuji to see Anne nearly bursting into tears for him. 

“Ever since then, I kinda was confused about everything. I was too dumb to understand it and didn’t do anythin’ ‘bout it. Now, I’m just kinda wonderin’ where to go from there…”

“You’re right to be confused, just let me assess your feelings about him for a bit. To make sure, cause if you’re confused and you find you aren’t preferring people in that way, better make sure 

to feel what’s truly on your mind rather than playing with their emotions.”

“Yeah, if I found that Akira wasn’t into it, I’d feel bad for doing that to him, I want us to work together on this, if we do get closer, I hope we grow stronger together as a team.”

“Now we’re talking!” Anne cheered. “I’ll also get you the deets if he’s that way or not. Right now I feel he could go either way, personally.”

“Yeah, I get that feelin’ from him too.”

“Now we’ve gotta do some work!” Anne started to pull out the dreaded homework from her Syujin bag.

“Can we just play some video games tonight?” Ryuji asked as Anne slammed her book in front of him.

“As if! You and I still need to learn some calculus!” She shook his head at him. “Maybe, if we finish our homework quickly tonight, then maybe we could finally finish our playthrough of Persona: Eternal Punishment Online!”

“You still play that?! I’ve only gotten to level 15 when it spiked up the dif’culty.”

“You clearly didn’t play it enough if I’m at level 52.”

“Fine! Let’s get this over with, then I’m gonna make you eat your words!” Ryuji quickly got his assignment and finished his last problems.” They both quickly ran to her bedroom with Ryuji grabbing his laptop.

“Don’t use the PC version! That thing runs slower than my old 2XXX computer!”

“Fine, make yours two player co-op.”

“Did you bring your controller?” Ryuji popped out his controller, like he was expecting to play this all along. Tonight they were gonna strategize.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 55  
> Guts: Bold 10  
> Proficiency: Skilled 44  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> Kindness: Considerate 35
> 
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Learned 22  
> Guts: Dauntless 62  
> Proficiency: Decent 9  
> Charm: Existent 1  
> Kindness: Considerate 43
> 
> Anne:  
> Knowledge: Learned 61  
> Guts: Bold 7   
> Proficiency: Decent 26  
> Charm: Head-turning 43  
> Kindness: Empathetic 66


	10. Making Off with the Prize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira hangs out with everyone, getting equipment for the metaverse after school.

# Chapter 9:

Sunday, April 17, 20XX

15 days til expulsion

## Noon

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

 

Even if he was supposed to study today he just couldn’t find himself bringing out his textbook. It was supposed to be his weekend. Play video games, hang out with Akira, show him around central street, get him some food.

Ryuji worked had just finished working his first early morning shift at work when Anne texted him to let him know that Shiho’s condition was currently stable. That was a relief to all of them.

He’d made some money this morning, so that was a success for him. He changed back into his casual outfit and walked over to the train station. Anne arrived a few minutes later, waiting for Akira. “How’d your first shift go?” She asked.

“It went pretty good, they showed me the ropes at the convenience store. It seems pretty simple. I just wished I could move around more, gain up some strength in these legs.”

She laughed, agreeing with him.

Anne was in one of her more stylish outfits for the evening out, she bought herself a crepe and snacked on it while they waited.

Akira appeared coming out from Shibuya station, wearing Sojiro’s clothing on him, They were kinda baggy with his pants only being kept up with a belt Sojiro lent him this morning. It was a pitiful sight to see. “Akira…” Anne griped, seeing him in all his baggy glory.

“These were the only clothes I had…” Anne took his hand and dragged him off to the shopping store, with Ryuji trudging behind him. “This is an emergency. We’ll go shopping some more another day, but for now, you need a new stylish outfit.” She looked around for an outfit and handed him a shirt and pants to try on, along with some matching shoes. She showed him to a fitting room. A few minutes later Akira came out wearing a grey and red shirt with the words “classic,” written in English, along with some black pants and red converse shoes. She gestured for him to do a spin, seeing it from all angles. “Looking sweet, dude,” Ryuji was impressed. It did seem like him. Akira went back in and changed, carrying his outfit in hand. Anne quickly took them out of his hands and bought the outfit.

* * *

They headed to a bathroom to change back into the clothes, with the tags pulled off.

“Thank you,” Akira didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s nothing,” she brushed it off. “So, I’m glad you were able to find that shop _Ryuji_!” She nudged him, giving him a chance to talk with Akira a bit more.

“Yeah, I forgot I stopped into that place a few weeks ago. It makes model guns, so we can stock up on the new stuff like the cat wanted," Ryuji replied.

“Glad you’re taking my advice!” Morgana muffled voice spoke from his bag. Akira unzipped it a little bit for his head to poke out.

Ryuji sighed at the cat, then changed the subject. “Afterwards, you wanna come and play some video game at Anne’s place? We were plannin’ on doing that once we finished up at the store.”

“Yeah, join us! Have you played any of the Persona games yet?” Anne asked.

“No…” Akira scratched the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed.

“We’ll show you. We’ll start him out on Persona 3. One and two would be hard for a beginner like him…”

“You teach ‘em the refs back to previous games, so he doesn’t get confused.”

“Roger!” Anne saluted him.

The headed down the bustling corner of central street, and headed behind the alleyway. A neon sign with the name untouchables graced itself above the place. Ryuji opened the door and they all head in. The place had tons of guns displayed in glass. “Hello, we need help findin’ a gun," Ryuji asked. The guy didn’t answer, he lifted up his newspaper higher.

“If you don’t know what you’re looking for, the regulars’ll be mad seein' a casual like you walk in here.”

“What’dya mean by regulars?!? I was here a few weeks ago!”

“Oh, you just smell like a casual.” Ryuji growled at him, “I can give you the good stuff if you have the guts for it.” The man shrugged him off, looking back at his newspaper.

“Well I do, so hook me up.” Ryuji slammed down his money. “Give me the best one available.”

“You don’t have enough money for the best one available," the man replied flatly.

“How much could it be?!?” Ryuji clenched his hands in the air, frustrated.

“256000 yen, casual boy.”

Ryuji’s jaw dropped open, that’s more than he could ever make in his entire life.

“Then, get us started on the best one that we can afford,” Akira butted in, taking over for Ryuji.

“We have a Granelli M3 that he can get for 4400 yen.”

“I’ll take it…” Ryuji said, his voice still crushed from not being able to buy the best-ranged weapon for himself.

“I’ll take the Heat whip and the Sompton machine gun.” Anne started counting out her yen to him.

“What’s a lady like you going to do with a whip and replica machine gun?”

“I have my secrets,” she replied vaguely, giving him an almost innocent looking expression.

He didn’t question her further.

“I’ll take the Kukri knife and Governance,” Akira pushed forward his cash.

“Thanks.” He gave them their equipment, and they stored it in their bags, and headed on to the crepe stand to try out some new food.

Anne got Akira her usual to try: a strawberry cream crepe. To Anne and Ryuji’s surprise, he ended up enjoying it a lot, having an almost gleefully childish smile after he tried the first bite of it. There was one thing they knew he started to like: sweets.

* * *

 

## Daytime

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

He couldn’t stand how anyone could like sweets. He thought maybe Akira would be more of the meat kind of guy, but him liking sweets was interesting. Ryuji was the one to always get the mellowest flavor of ice cream, the other flavors always tasted too sweet, or had chocolate, which wasn’t his cup of tea either.

Trying new things was a way for Akira to find himself, and feel more human. Ryuji looked in her pantry for some chips but found nothing but vegetables and healthy options. He forgot that Anne was a healthy person, she loved having energy, liked almost milk more than regular, and preferred water over soda, but also, where were the sweets? Was she hiding them in her room somewhere?

Ryuji’s stomach grumbled. He needed to eat something… Anne already was prepared that this would happen and handed him a bag of chips.

“I could tell you were hungry, and also your stomach growled. They got comfy, covering up in Anne’s bed, Ryuji and Anne set up Persona 3, playing on their old PS2. Akira sat in the middle of them, holding the unfamiliar controller.

“So, how do you play this game?”

“It’ll show you how to play, but first it’ll take you through a cutscene, explaining what’s going on.”

Akira comes up on the main menu seeing the journey and the answer pop up. A familiar tune leaks through the screen. “That’s the music I hear when I see Igor,” Akira pointed at the screen.

“Whoa, then it must feel like deja vu to you, no wonder I thought that name was familiar when you talked about him when you first came to the real world.”

“So you mean that the game we are playing is actually based on real people’s encounters of persona’s and shadows?”

“Must be. How could they make it up?”

“It said it was a work of fiction… how could…”

“I think I should go through this game to understand things a little better.”

“Okay, it’s a long game, but we can do it. There’s more to this series though. There are at least 6 games. Two are mmorpgs and the rest are long stories that take at least 50+ hours to beat.”

“Okay, then let’s get started with this one.”

Akira watched the cutscene feeling confused, everything was thrown at him, a boy with blue hair over his eyes, a girl, almost attempting to shoot herself in the head, while getting ready to take a bath. The boy comes at the end of the station, seeing the moon become yellow, and the sky become a sickly green. Coffins littered the place. The boy walks into what looks like a dorm, or hotel, he couldn’t tell which. A boy stares at him, asking him to sign a contract, that’s where he’s introduced to entering his name. Akira enters in his own, not knowing that the boy has a real name somewhere in the world, and the mysterious boy with a contract disappears, leaving him to get acquainted with the ladies. The blue haired boy is new to town, transferring from who knows where.

Ryuji thinks that this must feel weird with him playing the game of another Persona user. Watching him go through all the routine and stuff, Anne tells him all the weak points that she remembered when she played through it. Ryuji wasn’t that good at strategies in the first place. He was better at remembering what stuff to choose for making friendships though. He helped Akira out with those, and he complimented him whenever he could.

When they came upon Igor in the velvet room, Akira had goosebumps. It was him, exactly the same, non-changing. But why was the room moving up, like an elevator? Akira had even more questions to ask. And his voice sounded nothing like his Igor, his was deeper, and a little bit more mysterious, not light and articulating his words like this ones.

Once the game really started to get going, Akira found the place to be similar to the palaces, fighting shadows, but in randomized rooms. Ryuji could tell it made Akira’s confidence go up when he was learning who to take down on his own. He was a natural at learning from Anne and Ryuji, soon enough he would try to figure out what attacks were weak against that specific enemy. It was just like fighting shadows in Kamoshida’s Palace.

That's when Akira looked over and noticed a gun proudly displayed on her bedside table.

Akira realized he had to head home for the evening. He gave them both a hug Ryuji held on a little bit longer than usual, feeling a bond start to bring them closer…

* * *

 

## Evening

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

“You’re a sweetheart,” Anne smiled.

“No I’m not!” Ryuji objected. “I just like hugs, okay? It’s what my mama taught me!”

“Oh no, I see it in your eyes, you are in L-o-v-e. Don’t let Akira know yet though! I still can’t tell who he likes.”

“I couldn’t tell either…” Ryuji scratched the back of his head.

“Also give him some time, he may just need to get to know you better. You haven’t exactly given him much to like. You need to open up to him! I can see you’re hesitating, why don’t you want to talk to him more?”

“It’s harder than that, I’m not like you, Anne. Before you guys came along, I hit a hard a hard time, my Dad abused and hurt my Mom an’ me, my track team ‘ventually turned against me. I’m not even sure if I could’ve survived another year by myself…” Ryuji could feel tears start to form, he tried to dry them up. Anne shook her head.

“It’s okay to cry, don’t ever think you have to be strong for anyone.”

“But I’ve got to be strong…”

“Why?”

“It’s all that I know…”

“There are other ways you can be strong, Ryuji. You’ve done it by being yourself, troublemaker. It’s nothing to be crying about. You know you can always tell me what's up. Even if it’s a little problem, rant to me. Text me, you have friends who will back you up and help you feel better. With Akira, I can only hope our friendship grows stronger because of this phantom thief business.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right.” Anne gave him a tissue to dry up his tears. “So, with your new job, how are we gonna coordinate our studying?”

“I guess I’ll work three days a week then study three with you? I want my one day off to relax.”

“Fair enough, so, continue from where we were a few days ago?”

“Let’s do it!” Ryuji cracked his knuckles, revving himself up. Anne looked at her bedside table, noticing her replica SEES evoker had gone missing. “Ryuji, did you take my evoker?”

“No, but I think I know who did…”

“What would he want with my evoker?”

“I dunno, but I do know when you went into your cosplayin’ phase,” he grinned.

“Oh shut up!”

* * *

 

**Akira Kurusu**

Customers were still there when Akira returned home for the evening. Sojiro cleaned up the dishes, he could feel some bitterness reek from him. Earlier today, he was almost suckered into doing the dishes for the day, but he had other plans, and skipped out when Sojiro got occupied talking with a lady named Nijima Sae-san. Akira couldn’t tell if he forgot about it or what, but he focused on the news, noticing they were talking more about the train incident. The people in question were reportedly almost in a coma-like state afterwards. This seemed very suspicious…

“Man, this train accident has been happening a lot lately. Didn’t something like this happen a few years ago?”

“I’m not sure, but I think something like this did happen at least two years ago.” Sojiro said. “I’ll closing up shop soon.”

“How rude! Pushing out a customer like that!” The customer heads out, scoffing at him as he leaves.

“Thanks for stopping in,” he tried to hide the bitterness in his voice.

Akira looks at him, “Why are you being upset with the customers? Don’t you want business?”

Sojiro sighs, “I’m not going to fake a smile, when other places have.”

Akira simply nods, leaving him be and heads upstairs. Morgana decided to stay home today. He scratched the back his neck. “Welcome back,” Morgana stretched. “I see you and Ryuji have went up in your friendship rank. Your doing good.”

“I went up? I didn’t even realize it…”

“Yeah, just keep doing what you’re doing and you guys will become perfect Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse. It’s good to become close with your teammates. Now, let me teach you something you may need in the Metaverse: lockpicking. I think if we clean up the desk of yours, it’ll be perfect for crafting some stuff.” Akira looks to the stand at the wall in front of his bed, he clears out all the books, and puts them in the book shelf, finally, making this place feel like home.

“Alright! The place is finally clean! Let me see, Morgana looked around on his bed and snatched up a hairpin, along with a clear little locking mechanism. “While you were gone, I found a thing for you to practice lockpicking on. Someone threw it away in their trash, the hairpin, was something I found on the road.” Luckily, Akira had gotten a hairpin from one of the enemies he fought. He looked up a tutorial on how to lockpick online, following the instructor on how to do it. Inserting, his bent lockpin, along with another broken one, he started looking for the pins on the inside, pushing them all up until he heard a click and unlocked it. “Looking good, just be sure to be careful, they can break any time, and you’ll have to make a new one.”

“Nice! This’ll be useful.” Akira stored the lockpins inside his Syujin bag. Once he was done, he sat down on his bed, working on his homework for a bit. A few seconds later his phone vibrated. It was Anne.

 

> Anne: the evoker. She texted him simply. You got it.
> 
> Akira: Yes, I need it for something.
> 
> Anne: Like what?
> 
> Akira: I’m gonna do something gutsy.
> 
> Anne: Alright, just don’t forget to give me it back!
> 
> Anne: Please just give me back my evoker replica in good condition. That cost me 7,770 yen! It was made with real metal! I wanted it for a really accurate cosplay!
> 
> Akira: Don’t worry, I’ll give it back.
> 
>  

“Man, she’s mad at you for taking something,” Morgana remarked, looking at the glowing screen. “What evoker?”

“This one,” he pulled it out from his bag, feeling the heaviness from the metal.

“Man, you took that from her, without her knowing? You’ve got the sneakiness part down, but I’d be more careful of Lady Anne’s feelings.”

“Yeah, I should’ve asked her first, before taking it,” he admitted, feeling guilty.

“Oh well, you can give it back to her tomorrow," the cat sighed. "Phantom Thief..." Morgana shook his head, "You're growing into your title a little too well..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akira:  
> Knowledge: Learned 56  
> Guts: Bold 11  
> Proficiency: Skilled 44  
> Charm: Debonair 79 MAX  
> Kindness: Considerate 35
> 
> Ryuji:  
> Knowledge: Learned 22  
> Guts: Dauntless 63  
> Proficiency: Decent 9  
> Charm: Existent 1  
> Kindness: Considerate 43
> 
> Anne:  
> Knowledge: Learned 61  
> Guts: Bold 7  
> Proficiency: Decent 27  
> Charm: Head-turning 43  
> Kindness: Empathetic 69


	11. Learn from Your Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joker does something reckless, and temporarily loses his ability to summon his persona.

#  Chapter 10:

Monday, April 18, 20XX

14 days til expulsion

##  Early morning

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

Walking to school couldn’t have gotten worse, but it did, when he saw the shit eating grin of Kamoshida as he stood out in front of the school. At least Akira was walking with him to school today. “Good morning,” his ugly fake voice irritated the hell out of him. Ryuji walked past him, trying to get his stupid face out of his head.

“Good morning, Suguru,” Akira remarked, leaving him clenching his teeth in anger. Now that was something. His cat did say he needed to be more gutsy, and something as small as that definitely took guts to actually do it, not honoring his name was taboo. Ryuji liked this side of Akira, his true self, unfiltered and suave, sometimes gutsy. He was like that in the Metaverse, his Persona was really coming through today. They saw no signs of Anne in sight that morning. She was late, or somewhere else at the moment. All Ryuji could do was think about going into the Metaverse after school. He craved fighting those enemies with his new weapons, seeing if it made a difference. That was the fun part. Being in the Metaverse made him feel like a hero, strong and powerful, like he could take on the world. However, he could still feel that he needed to exercise and keep on moving.

“Sakamoto Ryuji-san!” The teacher called him out, and he snapped out his daze. “Where did the idea of a persona come from?”

“Carl Jung.”

“Yes, that is correct! We often find that in certain situations we act differently, whether it's in front of a crowd or by yourself. So you were paying attention. Good, now Carl Jung…”

He got something right for once… That almost never happened… Was he actually getting smarter? He just remembered Akira saying something like that. It kinda felt nice to say something right for once. To finally not feel like the dumbest person in the school. He could get used to this. 

* * *

 

##  Lunch

**Akira Kurusu**

Akira sat and ate some cream cheese Taiyaki with Anne that afternoon. Filled with a euphoric look in his eyes as he found he liked cream cheese. Maybe he liked things sweet. That was the key, he hypothesized. Anne smiled, taking another satisfying bite. Ryuji ate at his sandwich, hungry as could be. “So, what’s the plan for today? We headin’ to the palace after school?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t you guys like to get this done and over with?” Akira asked, scratching his head, puzzled by Ryuji even asking.

“I agree, the sooner we get this over with, the more you guys have time to level up your stats and get to becoming a better team afterward,” Morgana came in with his wisdom. 

“How are we gonna make Kamoshida change his mind? I know we’ve been taking down enemies, but how does that affect him in the real world?”

“When we’re in a palace, the enemies guard the one thing we need to change Kamoshida’s ways: his desires. Inside his palace, his desires become like a treasure, so we go and steal it, like real thieves.”

“Good! I’m more than ready to finish him. How far do you think we got?” Ryuji asked.

“We haven’t gotten one-fourth of the way there yet. We’ve still got a ways to go.”

“I’m more than ready to do it too. I’m sick of his stupid adult authority on this school,” Ryuji commented. 

“Good to know we can count on you, Skull.” Akira winked at Ryuji, giving one of his perfect smiles.

“Oh yeah, you guys said you had code names! What should mine be?” Anne pondered, looking out at the sky.

“Maybe somethin’ to do with a cat, since your Persona looks like one,” Skull suggested.

“Panther sounds confident. I’ll go with that.”

“What about black panther, because of your mask?” Morgana asked.

“Nah, there’s an American Black Panther superhero and Panther is just fine for me.” Anne sighed with relief, feeling good about her decision.

“Oh yeah there is…” Ryuji realized.

“Oh, Akira. I forgot to ask, did you bring the gun to school?” Anne asked.

“Yeah, I still need to see if it can be tested out in the Metaverse.”

“Oh, wanted to use it as a real gun? We could try that.”

“The Metaverse is pretty weird with weapons. Even though its a gun, with enough knowledge, we could change a gun into functioning differently than our regular guns. Akira should have enough to change how it functions,” Morgana said.

“Ooo! That would be cool, then maybe we could upgrade our stuff without paying!”

“As much as that would be cool, our weapons can only do so much. The more expensive your weapon is, the more opportunity it gives you to change your strategy,” Morgana shook his head sadly. “Even the metaverse has ways of still making you pay.”

“Damn…” Ryuji sighed. “I wanted to upgrade my weapon to the one that that guy talked ‘bout yesterday…”

“You need a bit more knowledge for that. Don’t worry, we’ll get there together. Just keep doing what you are doing, Lady Anne.”

“Yup!” Anne leaned into Ryuji, giving him a playful fist-bump as the bell rung for the end of lunch.

* * *

 

##  After school 

**Akira Kurusu**

The castle loomed over the phantom thieves like their awaited expulsion. As they walked towards the castle entrance, a glowing blue door stood near the side of the castle, waiting for Akira. Morgana noticed this as well and cocked his head, curious about the glowing door. A few seconds later, a small girl in deep blue clothing came out, holding a clipboard. “Our Master has been expecting you for a while, what has taken you so long, Rookie?!” She yelled at him, frustrated. “And you!” She pointed at Morgana. “Why didn’t you get him here sooner?”

“I uh…” Morgana lost all his self-confidence and began to trip on his words, sounding like an idiot.

“I guess, it’s better late than never… Get your butt in here, Rookie!” She ran behind them and kicked them through the door, scoffing at them, while shaking her head.

Joker tripped onto the floor, skidding across the carpeted floor, with Morgana ending up right behind him. “Ow…” Joker uttered in pain.

“Welcome back, Phantom Thief. I see, your progress with connections outside in the real world is coming along quite nicely. That was Justine, back there. Her methods are… a bit stern, aren’t they?”

“A little bit,” Joker remarked, giving a cocky smirk. They brushed themselves off and got to their feet.

“I’ve asked you to come here because I noticed your personas are lacking in power. So, with what Persona’s you’ve acquired, I can offer you a service to enhance your Persona’s power, by combining them with others, to form stronger Persona’s on your journey. Caroline and Justine are here to help, by doing the executions.”

“E-executions?” Joker gulped.

“Sadly, this means you’ll have to say goodbye to two of your Persona’s…”

All Joker could think about, was Arsene, the first Persona he remembered having. He only had two persona’s currently: Arsene, and Jack O’ Lantern. He hesitated to even bring them out.

“Is there another way?” Was all Joker could say, as he tried to hold his composure.

“There is not. For you, this is the only way.”

Joker solemnly nodded, giving his Persona’s to Caroline and Justine. They held the Persona’s hands as they led them to the execution room. “I will always remain with you, the Persona of you wishing to help the world will never change. Our bond will only grow deeper with every person you help. You will always be the Gentlemanly Thief that everyone desires,” Arsene tried to calm him, but that made everything worse. 

Justine spat at him, calling him a weak baby, as she wrapped up his Persona’s and put their heads beneath the guillotine. She turned her back as the blades fell, forming a new Persona. Joker fell to his knees, looking at the onion-looking Persona.

“This wasn’t an upgrade at all… He looks worse than Arsene…”

“Be grateful that our master is even letting you use this room, Rookie!” Caroline chastised Joker.

“He doesn’t understand, Caroline. For someone like him, it may be understandable for him to react like that.” Justine was the calmer of the two, feeling slightly more mature.

“Fine…” Caroline rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Joker welcomed it reluctantly, letting it fuse into his mask. That’s when he felt a hand sit on his shoulder, he turned to look up and see Arsene. “See? Our bond strengthened. We can communicate closer now, because of it.”

Joker sighed with relief, he thought Arsene was just trying to comfort him, but he was right. Arsene seemed more transparent though, perhaps, only Akira could see him now. 

“Don’t be alarmed, Phantom Thief. Over time you will acquire many Persona’s. All of them can get stronger, by using my fusion capabilities.”

The bond between Igor and Joker grew, he felt a surge of new power flow through him. Joker thanked him, and headed back outside.”

“Dude, what were you guys doin’ just starin’ off into space? We were callin’ you guys for minutes,” Skull immediately asked them, once they snapped out of their trance.

“I was just having a talk with Igor, don’t you guys see the door?” He pointed to the blue door, but Skull and Panther looked at him with confusion.

“Sorry man, but I don’t see what you’re talkin’ ‘bout.”

“Anyways,” Joker changed the subject. “Let’s get started at our previous safe room.” They teleport up a few floors, close to where Panther unleashed her Persona. Joker peered through the door, looking for shadows. He cautiously continued down the hall, crouching down near the corners, to hide, in case he needed to do a sneak attack. They followed his moves, hardly coming upon any enemies. The place was silent, with only the occasional sound of clunking footsteps.

As the door creaks open to the next room, they catch a glimpse of something sitting in the middle of the room. Ryuji goes toward the cage and rattles it a little bit, hoping it would open up. “Hey, it looks like a map!” Anne pointed out.

“Ooh, that’s really good, for a place like this. We need something to keep track of the layout of the place. Hey Joker, try to see if there’s any way to get inside.” Morgana suggested.

_ This had to be some sort of puzzle,  _ Joker thought, looking around the room, he saw statues with levers to pull, hanging on the walls. Focusing on them, he realized the room got darker, and he could see the statues glow, with glowing blue footprints leading to another statue. This… new ability seemed to function as a way to solve puzzles, or find what is needed to complete it… He pulled down the lever on the glowing one and asked Panther to pull down the other lever on the other side. The cage ascended with a resounding jingle. Joker took the map and looked at it, taking notes on where they could continue onto next. “Good work, Akira!” Skull high fived him. Joker’s eyes went wide, realizing he said his name. “Shit. Sorry, Joker.”

“We made those code names for a reason,  _ Skull _ . We don’t know if Kamoshida can remember this unsubconsciously. We have to be careful,” Mona warned him.

“It’s alright, Mona. We’re getting used to the codenames. It’s a simple slip up anyone could make.” Joker backed Skull up.

“Yeah, you’re right Joker… Sorry Ryuji.”

“Apology accepted, now let’s see how this bad boy SEES gun works!”

The gun sat in his tailcoat pockets, he pulled it out and they began running down the halls, searching for an enemy, when they encountered one he took out his gun and aimed it for his head, whispering Persona as the gun evoked his Persona to attack the enemy. Mandrake attacked stronger than before, that wiped the enemy out within one hit.

All Panther and Skull could do was stare at him. “Dude! Don’t scare us like that!” Skull yelled. “We didn’t know if it would do that!”

“Woah, that was interesting…” Was all Mona could say. “And definitely gutsy.”

Joker handed Panther back her gun, “We should confront death, but don’t be stupid about it. It’s a game, but here it could be useful. I’ll take care of it.”

“Sorry, guys I let myself get carried away. I should’ve consulted you guys before I do something as gutsy as that… I kinda killed the mood...” Everyone could feel the sadness in his voice. 

Joker moved slower after that, with the rest of the team walking ahead of him. He logged behind them, keeping to his thoughts to himself.  _ I’m so stupid…  _ was all could think, letting it settle in his mind. That’s when he realized he’d changed back to his school uniform.

“Joker!” Panther yelled at him as another enemy ambushed them from a corner. She shielded him, sending fire magic hurtling towards the enemy. Skull sent a thunderstorm towards it, striking it dead.

“Why did you change back?!?” Panther yelled, frustrated.

“He changed back because he doesn’t feel like himself,” Mona pointed out. “I told you a while back to not let your emotions get to you, that’s what happens when it does. We can’t have you vulnerable here. We’ll have to find a save point and get out of here for today…”

They find another save spot a few feet away from then and head on back.

Akira feels like he’s let everyone down today. He shouldn’t have let something as small as that get to him, but emotions are complicated. They make you feel something with just a simple sentence.

“We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings like that, Akira,” Anne tried to comfort him, but he shifted away from her. 

“I know, I just need some time to myself for a bit.” Akira hoisted up his bag with Morgana and started for the train station.

“A-alright. We’ll see you tomorrow…” Anne tried to wave at him but he turned away and ignored him.

* * *

 

##  Evening

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

He fucked up, and he knew they fucked up as friends for hurting his feelings. Sometimes, he felt like he could never do anything right. He just wanted to try the new gun out and see what it did. 

They probably overreacted. Then again, Anne had every right to be upset about something like that. Her girlfriend just jumped off the school building a few days ago. She probably thought that he should’ve done something different, or at least warned them better. 

Ryuji and Anne sat down at the table in Anne’s apartment. “I didn’t think that he’d be that emotional about that.” Anne admitted, once they were finished doing homework. “Now I’m just thinking, what should we do. You guys get expelled on May second.”

“I dunno, I think tomorrow we’ll try to go and cheer him up, he just seemed like he needed to be alone.”

“Yeah, he just wanted to be who he was and we made him feel bad about being himself. That’s what I thought it came down to.”

“Yeah, I thought so too, but you had a right to be upset about it too.”

“I know… But we need to be there for him too. He can’t just bottle up his emotions anymore. He’s not a one man group or on his own anymore. He has us now and needs to communicate with us.”

“Like family?”

“Like family. We have to look out for each other.”

* * *

 

**Akira Kurusu**

He returned home in a bad mood. Sojiro took one look at him, and patted the table. He took a seat, while Sojiro fixed him a cup of coffee. “Bad day, huh? Everyone has those.” Akira took a sip, this time it was sweeter, like those crepes.

“Yeah, but this time it was my fault. I did something stupid.” 

He looked like he was about to kill himself with the gun. He should’ve never copied that from his video games.

“We all do something stupid. If it’s something small, we shouldn’t let it get to us. Sometimes people do that on purpose to make you seem like that bad guy.”

“This wasn’t their fault. It was totally all me. I hurt my friends feelings.”

“Well then, you have some apologizing to do.”

“I know, but talking about it feels better.”

“That’s good, hope it made you feel better at least.”

“It did,  and thanks for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome. You seemed like you needed something to help calm you down..”

Akira smiled, feeling like himself again as he headed up the stairs. He let Morgana out, and got comfy, covering up in his bed. Morgana rested on top of his chest, purring softly.

Tomorrow, they were really gonna start working on the palace. They didn't get far at all, and they were gonna makeup for it.


End file.
